Comparison of Conception of Space-Time between Dysgraphic Children and Normal Children of Ilam Province, Iran

Dictation is one of prevalent topics in relation to learning disabilities which is considered by the experts and psychologists in the current century. Dysgraphia or disorder in dictation is a major written disorder. The applied studies demonstrate that this disability causes students’ fatigue and losing their interest and finally will result in academic failure. The present study was applied with the objective of comparing the conception of space-time between dysgraphic children and normal children in Ilam Province within academic year 91-92 (2012-13). This research according to the nature of question and objectives is causal-comparative study. The data was collected using Wechsler intelligence scale for children revised (WISC-R), Wechsler cube subtest for children and teacher-made distraction test. Fifty students were selected among the boy and girl students of first and second grades of primary school, by random cluster sampling.  Summary of results indicated that space and time concept are understood by dysgraphic children later than normal children. According to the results of this study, it is concluded that the dysgraphic students have problem with space and time elements construction. Summary of results indicates that space and time concepts are perceived by children infected with dysgraphia later than normal children, thus it may be used in preschool children for readiness for reading and writing i.e. focus on perceiving the orientation concepts (up-down, far-near, left-right) as well as attention to physical  design and physical  space

Comparison of Conception of Space-Time between Dysgraphic Children and Normal Children of Ilam Province, Iran

Dictation is one of prevalent topics in relation to learning disabilities which is considered by the experts and psychologists in the current century. Dysgraphia or disorder in dictation is a major written disorder. The applied studies demonstrate that this disability causes students’ fatigue and losing their interest and finally will result in academic failure. The present study was applied with the objective of comparing the conception of space-time between dysgraphic children and normal children in Ilam Province within academic year 91-92 (2012-13). This research according to the nature of question and objectives is causal-comparative study. The data was collected using Wechsler intelligence scale for children revised (WISC-R), Wechsler cube subtest for children and teacher-made distraction test. Fifty students were selected among the boy and girl students of first and second grades of primary school, by random cluster sampling.  Summary of results indicated that space and time concept are understood by dysgraphic children later than normal children. According to the results of this study, it is concluded that the dysgraphic students have problem with space and time elements construction. Summary of results indicates that space and time concepts are perceived by children infected with dysgraphia later than normal children, thus it may be used in preschool children for readiness for reading and writing i.e. focus on perceiving the orientation concepts (up-down, far-near, left-right) as well as attention to physical  design and physical  space

Study of some biological characteristics (Tiger tooth croacher, Silver pomfert, Yellow fin seabream, Hilsa shad, Indo-pacific king mackerel, Narrow-bared Spanish mackerel) in the coastal waters of the Persian Gulf

The present study was carried out in the fishing landing center in khozestan using the commercial catch data. The data of total cutch of fishes and effort were prepared from the deputy of statistic office. Based on the pre data, the effort of gill-net fishery was being decreased from 1996 to 2000 and then had a trend to increase from 2001. The maximum and minimum of trap fishery of dhows ware observed 2005 and 1996 respectively. The maximum and minimum of total catch were observed in 2005 in Hilsha shad and Spanish mackerel with 4174.95 tones and 73.33 tons respectively. In this year the total catch of silvery pomfret and tiger tooth croaher species were recorded 323.6 tones and 1700.44 tons respectively. The growth parameters of Hilsha shad were estimated from 10071 specimens in Abadan and 4032 specimens of length frequencies from Hendijan, statistic program of t-test was used for the mean total length and the results showed the significantly different (p < 0.05) in the two areas during 12 months. The Von Bertalanffy growth parameters were estimated from the FISAT II and ELEFAN.The asymptotic length (L) was estimated using the Powell – Vetheral method in Abadan and Hendijan, 42.74 cm and 37.02 cm respectively. Growth coefficient or K for both areas were 0.77 and 0.71 per year respectively. The instantaneous rotes of total mortalities (Z) were estimated from length-converted catch curves and the values were at 2.55 year^-1 for Abadan and 2.81 year^-1 for Hendijan. The instantaneous rate of natural mortalities (M) and fishing mortalities (F) for both areas, Abadan and Hendijan were 0.75 year^-1, 0.732 year^-1 and 1.8 year^-1, 2.078 year^-1 respectively. The exploitation rates (E) for both populations were 0.7 year^-1 in Abadan and 0.73 year^-1 in Hendijan. However the optimum level of E should be 0.5 and the estimated valves of E is more than 0.5 and shows the pressure of fishing effort and overexploited on the population of this stock. The instantaneous rate of total mortalities of Tiger tooth croacker was 1.95 year^-1 the instantaneous rate of natural mortality using Pauly empirical formula was estimated 0.7 year^-1 and fishing mortality were 1.52 year^-1. The exploitation rate for this species was calculated 0.62 year^-1. The values of M and F for silvery pumfret were obtained 0.91 year^-1 and 1.47 year^-1 respectively. The exploitation rate was estimated 0.61 year^-1

Flange Wrinkling in Flexible Roll Forming Process

AbstractFlexible roll forming is an advanced sheet metal forming process for producing variable cross section profiles. Flange wrinkling at the transition zone where the cross section changes is a major defect in the flexible roll forming process. In this paper, the flange wrinkling at the transition zone is studied using finite element analysis. The results showed that the strip deformation at the transition zone can be considered as a combination of two strip deformations observed in the conventional roll forming process and the flanging process. According to finite element analysis results, when the flange wrinkling occurs, compressive longitudinal strain is smaller than the necessary compressive longitudinal strain calculated by mathematical modeling to obtain the intended profile geometry in the compression zone. Therefore, comparison of compressive longitudinal strain obtained from the finite element analysis and the necessary compressive longitudinal strain is a good criterion to predict the flange wrinkling occurrence. A flexible roll forming setup was developed. Longitudinal strain history is obtained from the finite element simulation and is compared with the experimental data from the flexible roll forming setup. Results show a good agreement and confirm the finite element analysis

Heavy Metals Removal from Industrial Wastewater by Sand, Soil and Organic Matter

A greenhouse experiment was conducted with a completely randomized design with four treatments and four replicates to investigate the efficiency of sand, soil (calcareous and non-calcareous), and organic matter (rice husk and leaf compost) for the removal of copper, nickel, zinc, and chromium from industrial wastewater by filtration. PVC tubes (columns) 66.5 cm high and 10 cm diameter were chosen and each was filled from bottom to top with coarse gravel, sand, soil, organic matter, and fine gravel, respectively. Then, plating wastewater was added at nine pore volumes to each column. When the filter’s surface was completely dried, a second round of wastewater addition was performed. At the end of the experiment, the columns were cut to collect the adsorptive materials which were then air-dried and transferred to the laboratory for measurement of heavy metal concentrations by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The results showed that putting calcareous and non-calcareous soils under the applied organic matter (rice husk and leaf compost) affected their capacity for adsorbing heavy metals to varying degrees. It was also found that low the cation exchange capacity of soil compared to organic matter did not lead to its reduced adsorption capacity. Analysis of the organic matter revealed that rice husk was the best adsorbent for Cr, while leaf compost was the best for Zn and Ni. In addition, applied sand in this experiment was a good adsorbent for heavy metals in wastewater. Generally, it seems that application of the studied adsorbents was effective and that they could be recommended for the removal of heavy metals from industrial wastewater

Effect of Spray Application of Calcium Compounds Combined with Free Polyamines at Different Growth Stages on Physiological Problems and Yield of ‘Ahmad-Aghaii’ Pistachio (Pistacia vera L.)

Introduction: Pistachio is one of the most important horticultural crops in Iran, USA, Turkey and some Mediterranean countries. Some physiological problems such as abscission of inflorescence buds, blankness, non-splitting, early splitting, cracking and nut deformation reduce the pistachio yield and quality. A proper nutrition management of pistachio orchard might decrease the physiological problems and increasing the yield. Calcium is an essential plant macro-nutrient that has several distinct functions within plants. These functions can be divided into main areas including effects on membranes, enzymes, cell walls, and interactions of calcium with phytohormones. Free polyamines (putrescine, spermine, spermidine), are the widely distributed of N containing organic molecules binding to the intracellular anions (DNA, RNA, chromatin and proteins). They are also known to possess several regulatory functions. In plants, they have been associated with regulating many physiological processes, such as organogenesis, embryogenesis, floral initiation and development, leaf senescence, fruit development and ripening, and abiotic and biotic plant stress responses. Although the spray application of calcium compound and free polyamine has been investigated separately, application of calcium compounds combined with free polyamines has not been investigated yet. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of combined treatments of calcium and free polyamines on decreasing the physiological problems and improving the yield of ‘Ahmad-Aghaii’ pistachio trees. Materials and Methods: This experiment was carried out in a commercial 20-year old ‘Ahmad-Aghaii’ pistachio orchard in Rafsanjan, Iran. It was arranged as factorial based on randomized completely block design with three replications. The treatments were control, calcium compounds (calcium nitrate and calcium chloride at concentration of 0.5%) combined with free polyamines (putrescine, spermidine and spermine at concentration of 0.5 mM). Spraying were applied at different growth stages including two weeks after full bloom (stage 1), six weeks after full bloom (just before endocarp hardening) (stage 2) and the combination sprays of stage 1 and stage 2. Different traits including the percentages of abscission of inflorescence buds, cracking, blankness, early splitting, nut deformation, non-splitting and splitting as well as yield, leaf area and vegetative growth were measured. The individual shoot was the experimental unit and analyses of variance were performed using the General Linear Models procedure of SAS. Means were separated by Duncan’s multiple range test (P < 0.05). Results and Discussion: Results showed that the main physiological problems of pistachio crop were decreased by application of calcium compounds combined with free polyamines. Spray application of the mentioned treatments was more effective at combined stages of 1 and 2 rather than the stages separately. It was resulted that calcium nitrate combined with spermine and spermidine treatments at combined stages of 1 and 2 reduced the abscission of inflorescence buds, blankness, nut deformation and non-splitting. Also, it was found that calcium nitrate combined with spermidine at combined stages of 1 and 2 reduced the percentage of early splitting while splitting and yield were increased. Spray application of free polyamines combined with calcium compounds did not affect the length and diameter of current-year shoots but significantly increased the leaf area. It seems that calcium plays a key role in conjunction with free polyamines especially spermidine and spermine in decreasing the abscission of inflorescence buds via improving the stability of cell wall and preventing abscission layer formation. It also seems that polyamines reduce the abscission of inflorescence buds by antagonism with ethylene, possibly by competing for S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), a common precursor of both plant bioregulators. Increasing the shoot yield and decreasing the percentage of blankness might be due to improving leaf photosynthesis as well as regulating kernel growth and development. It was found that free polyamines and calcium might promote a regulatory system against environmental stresses especially heat, drought and salinity which are the main concerns of pistachio growers. Conclusion: According to the results, the application of calcium compounds combined with free polyamines could reduce the physiological problems and increased the yield of ‘Ahmad-Aghaii’ pistachio. Among calcium treatments, calcium nitrate was significantly more effective than calcium chloride. In the case of free polyamines, both spermidine and spermine were more effective than putrescine. It was concluded that application of calcium nitrate combined with spermidine or spermine at both stages (stage 1 + 2) was the most effective treatments in reducing physiological problems and increasing the yield of pistachio trees

A Wilkinson power divider with harmonic suppression through low-pass filter for GSM and LTE applications

Abstract Conventional Wilkinson power dividers (WPDs) perform satisfactorily near the intended operation frequency. Nonetheless, these WPDs demonstrate subpar performance in the stopband and necessitate a significant physical space. To enhance the existing level of advancement and in order to improve on the current state-of-the-art, a modified WPD is designed and fabricated, demonstrating a significant improvement in stopband and superior isolation between output ports. To improve the stopband and suppress unwanted harmonics, a low-pass filter (LPF) structure is placed in the both branches of the conventional WPD. The proposed modified WPD depicts a wide stopband bandwidth (f SB > 17.25 GHz) from 2.75 to over 20 GHz with an attenuation level of 20 dB, suppressing 2nd to 11th harmonics. According to measured results, the input return loss (|S11|), insertion loss (|S21|) and output isolation (|S32|) at f = 1.8 GHz are better than 33 dB, 3.2 dB and 21 dB, respectively. Indeed, the proposed modified WPD exhibits a magnitude imbalance of 0.00018, a phase imbalance of 1.25 degrees and a group delay of 0.5 ns. The proposed WPD depicts a compact size of 35 mm × 25 mm (0.38 λg × 0.27 λg), where λg is the guided wavelength at f = 1.8 GHz. There is a good agreement between the simulated and measured results. According to the obtained results, the proposed modified WPD shows a desirable performance for modern LTE and GSM communication applications

Comparison of Ciprofloxacin-Based Triple Therapy with Conventional Triple Regimen for Helicobacter pylori Eradication in Children

Helicobacter pylori infection is a prevalent disease among Iranian children. The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of ciprofloxacin and furazolidone on eradicating helicobacter pylori in Iranian children in combination with amoxicillin and omeprazole. In this cohort study, helicobacter pylori infection was confirmed by gastroscopy, rapid urease test or pathologic assessments. A total of 66 children were randomly enrolled; based on the random number table, and were divided into two groups; first, a combination regimen consisting of ciprofloxacin, amoxicillin, and omeprazole; second, a three-medication regimen consisting of amoxicillin, furazolidone, and omeprazole. The effect of both medical regimens on the successful eradication of helicobacter pylori infection was assessed and compared. Chi-square test was used for evaluating the association between quantitative variables. All comparisons were made at the significance of P<0.05. Endoscopic tests prior to initiating treatments showed that 66.7% of the patients had a degree of nodularity while peptic ulcer was only observed in one patient. One month after the end of the treatments, eradication of the helicobacter pylori infection was reported 87.9% (29/33) in the first group (CAO) and 60.6% (20.33) in the second group (FAO) (P=0.011). It appears that a major advantage of our proposed regimen over others is a lack of wide use of fluoroquinolones for treating children’s diseases. Given FDA’s recommendation about the possibility of prescribing ciprofloxacin for infected patients with multidrug resistance, we can use the regimen proposed in this study in patients with resistance to standard treatments

The Iranian blood pressure measurement campaign, 2019: study protocol and preliminary results

Purpose Hypertension is one of the most important risk factors for premature mortality and morbidity in Iran. The objective of the Iranian blood pressure (BP) measurement campaign was to identify individuals with raised blood pressure and providing appropriate care and increase the awareness among the public and policymakers of the importance of tackling hypertension. Methods The campaign was conducted in two phases. The first (communication) phase started on May 17th (International Hypertension Day). The second phase started on June 8th, 2019, and lasted up to July 7th during which, blood pressures were measured. The target population was Iranians aged >= 30 years. Participants voluntarily referred to health houses in rural and health posts and comprehensive health centers in urban areas in the setting of the Primary Health Care network. Additionally, over 13,700 temporary stations were set up in highly visited places in urban areas. Volunteer healthcare staff interviewed the participants, measured their BP, and provided them with lifestyle advice and knowledge of the risks and consequences of high blood pressure. They referred participants to physicians in case their BP was high. Participants immediately received a text message containing the relevant advice based on their measured BP and their past history. Results Blood pressure was measured for a total of 26,678,394 participants in the campaign. A total of 13,722,148 participants (51.4%) were female. The mean age was 46 +/- 14.1 years. Among total participants, 15,012,693 adults (56.3%) with no past history of hypertension had normal BP, 7,959,288 participants had BP in the prehypertension range (29.8%), and finally, 3,706,413 participants (13.9%) had either past medical history of hypertension, used medications, or had high BP measured in the campaign. Conclusion The campaign was feasible with the objective to increase the awareness among the public and policymakers of the importance of tackling hypertension in Iran