Regional vulnerability of the hippocampus to repeated motor activity deprivation

Spontaneous vertical and horizontal exploratory movements are integral components of rodent behavior. Little is known, however, about the structural and functional consequences of restricted spontaneous exploration. Here, we report two experiments to probe whether restriction in vertical activity (rearing) in rats could induce neuro-hormonal and behavioral disturbances. Rearing movements in rats were deprived for 3 h/day for 30 consecutive days by placing the animal into a circular tunnel task. Rats temporarily deprived of rearing behavior showed elevated plasma corticosterone levels but no detectable psychological distress and/or anxiety-related behavior within an elevated plus maze. However, rats emitted a greater number of 22-kHz ultrasonic vocalizations and spent significantly more time vocalizing than controls when deprived of their rearing behavior. Despite intact spatial performance within wet- and dry-land spatial tasks, rearing-deprived rats also exhibited a significant alteration in search strategies within both spatial tasks along with reduced volume and neuron number in the hippocampal subregion CA2. These data suggest a new approach to test the importance of free exploratory behavior in endocrine and structural manifestations. The results support a central role of the CA2 in spontaneous exploratory behavior and vulnerability to psychological stress. © 2015 Elsevier B.V

Modelling of friction stir welding of DH36 steel

A 3-D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed to simulate the friction stir welding of 6-mm plates of DH36 steel in an Eulerian steady-state framework. The viscosity of steel plate was represented as a non- Newtonian fluid using a flow stress function. The PCBN-WRe hybrid tool was modelled in a fully sticking condition with the cooling system effectively represented as a negative heat flux. The model predicted the temperature distribution in the stirred zone (SZ) for six welding speeds including low, intermediate and high welding speeds. The results showed higher asymmetry in temperature for high welding speeds. Thermocouple data for the high welding speed sample showed good agreement with the CFD model result. The CFD model results were also validated and compared against previous work carried out on the same steel grade. The CFD model also predicted defects such as wormholes and voids which occurred mainly on the advancing side and are originated due to the local pressure distribution between the advancing and retreating sides. These defects were found to be mainly coming from the lack in material flow which resulted from a stagnant zone formation especially at high tra- verse speeds. Shear stress on the tool surface was found to in- crease with increasing tool traverse speed. To produce a “sound” weld, the model showed that the welding speed should remain between 100 and 350 mm/min. Moreover, to prevent local melt- ing, the maximum tool’s rotational speed should not exceed 550 RPM

Association between organizational justice and productivity of human resources: a study at the Jundishapur Medical Sciences University of Ahvaz

Objective: From the management perspective, productivity is defined as the successful utilization of resources to achieve the desired goals. training and improvement of human resources are one of the several ways for increasing the productivity of human resources. Organizational justice is another factor affecting the productivity but has received little or no consideration. Organizational justice refers to the perceptions of employees about the fairness and fair behavior of the management on the job. Justice processes play an important role in all organizations. Besides, the manner in which the organizations deal with their employees can greatly influence their beliefs, feelings, attitudes, and behavior This correlational descriptive study aims to determine the association between organizational justice and productivity of human resources in Jundishapur Medical Sciences University of Ahvaz.Methods: 376 employees of the university were randomly sampled. Persian version of Niehoff and Moorman's organizational justice questionnaire and Hersey and Goldsmith's human resources productivity questionnaire were used for data collection.Results: The results of this study based on the dimensions of organizational justice indicated that the perception of total organizational justice among the included employees was relatively inappropriate, and only the dimension of interactional justice was estimated to be in the relatively appropriate condition.The study also showed a positive and significant association between organizational justice and human resources' productivity.Conclusions: As the organizational justice scenario is bad, therforeit is essential that the managers ensure a fair and just environment for the employees. This is essential to maximize the efficiency and productivity of the employees to achieve organizational goals. It was found that that the higher the perception of organizational justice especially procedural justice, the more was the productivity index in the organization. In addition, a medium, positive, and significant association was observed between distributive justice and the productivity of the employees.Keywords: Organizational Justice, Human Resources, Productivity, Administration, Workforc

Satisfaction with hearing aids based on technology and style among hearing impaired persons

Introduction: Hearing loss is one of the most disabling impairments. Using a hearing aid as an attempt to improve the hearing problem can positively affect the quality of life for these people. This research was aimed to assess satisfaction of hearing impaired patients with their hearing aids regarding the employed technology and style. Materials and Methods: This descriptive-analytic cross-sectional research was conducted on 187 subjects with hearing loss who were using a hearing aid. The subjects were over 18 years of age and were using a hearing aid for at least 6 months. The Persian version of Satisfaction with Amplification in Daily Life (SADL) questionnaire was the instrument which was used for assessing satisfaction with the hearing aid. Cronbach's alpha was calculated to be 0.80 for instrument reliability. Results: A significant difference was observed among satisfaction subscales' mean scores with hearing aid technology. Also a significant difference was observed between the total satisfaction score and the hearing aid model. With respect to the analysis of satisfaction with the hearing aid and its style, cost and services was the only subscale which showed a significant difference (P=0.005). Conclusion: Respondents using hearing aids with different technology and style were estimated to be quite satisfied. Training audiologists in using more appropriate and fitting hearing aids in addition to using self-reporting questionnaires like SADL for estimating patients' social condition and participation in their life can essentially change their disability condition and countervail their hearing loss

An Assessment of Changes in the Magnesium Level During Gynecological Abdominal Surgeries

Background: Magnesium (Mg) is the fourth most common cation in the human body and the second most intracellular cation after potassium. It has a fundamental role in several vital functions. As this essential ion is not measured in routine chemistry panels, little is known about its alterations during intraoperative time.Aim: The present study was designed to determine the negative eff ects of postoperative hypomagnesemia during and after surgeries.Subject and Methods: This study was a descriptive interventional study involving 74 patients. All patients underwent gynecological abdominal surgeries, and anesthesia protocols were standardized to comprise general and spinal anesthesia. All the patients were aged between 25 and 45 years, with ASA class I and II. Their total serum Mg level was measured 1 h before and 2 h after the surgery. The total serum Mg, calcium, and albumin level were measured by photometric methods. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 (Chicago Illinois, (USA). Inferential statistic was done using Vilksonnon-parametric and Pearson’s correlation test. P<0.05 were considered as significant.Results: The mean serum Mg levels were 1.87 (0.32) mg/dl before and 1.55 (0.34) mg/dl after the surgeries (The normal range: = 1.7-2.5 mg/dl). Results illustrated a significant hypomagnesemia after operations. Conclusion: Clinical impact of hypomagnesemia during surgeries needs to be studied further. Moreover, surgeons should be warned about the severity of probable electrolyte imbalances induced by perioperative events to decrease associated morbidities. Keywords: ASA, cation, gynecologic surgeries, magnesium, magnesium level, photometric method, standardized anesthesia, surgerie

Vibrational frequencies utilized for the assessment of exchange-correlation functionals in the description of metal-adsorbate systems: C₂H₂ and C₂H₄ on transition-metal surfaces

Describing the interaction between reactive species and surfaces is crucial for designing catalyst materials. Density-functional approximation is able to quantitatively model such interaction, but its accuracy strongly depends on the choice of exchange-correlation (XC) functional approximation. In this work, we assess the performance of mBEEF and RPBE functionals for describing the interaction of C2H2 and C2H4 with (111) surfaces of Cu, Pt, Pd, and Rh face-center-cubic transition metals. In particular, we study the geometry and the vibrational frequencies associated with the adsorbed molecules, as well as the adsorption energies. Crucially, experimental values for vibrational frequencies of molecules adsorbed on the metal surfaces are available for more system compared to physical quantities typically used to benchmark of XC functionals, such as adsorption energies. Thus, vibrational frequencies can be utilized as reference to assess the reliability of the exchange-correlation functionals. We find that the mean percentage errors (MPEs) of RPBE and mBEEF with respect to reported experimental values of vibrational frequencies are 0.64% and -3.88 %, respectively (36 data points). For adsorption enthalpy, RPBE and mBEEF provide MPEs of 27.61 and -59.81%, respectively, with respect to reported experimental values (7 data points). Therefore, the performance of RPBE is superior to that of mBEEF for the considered systems

A meta-synthesis review of occupant comfort assessment in buildings (2002-2022)

Occupant comfort in buildings is one of the most crucial considerations in designing a building. Accordingly, there is a growing interest in this area. Aspects of comfort include thermal comfort, visual comfort, acoustic comfort, and indoor air quality (IAQ) satisfaction. The objective of this state-of-the-art review was to provide a comprehensive, explicit, and up-to-date literature review on occupant comfort in buildings, since this issue has a great impact on the lifestyle, health, and productivity of occupants. A meta-synthesis method was also used for an analytical-interpretive review of previous studies. In this research, scientific research studies related to the subject of indoor occupant comfort in the period 2002–2022 were reviewed. Previous reviews have often covered the fundamental concepts and principles related to indoor occupant comfort. Although innumerable studies have focused on thermal comfort, other aspects of occupant comfort have not been considered. The review is analyzed and discussed in reference to type of study, case study geographical locations and climate zones, case study building types, decision-making models, assessment criteria, datacollection tools, and data analysis strategies. Finally, future research recommendations are presented. Through the review, we find that the comfort models used in research are mostly based on comfort perception votes collected from experimental studies, which may not reflect the preferences of users well. In addition, only the influence of environmental factors on the models has been investigated, and other personal factors have been ignored. This study presents a useful guide for researchers to determine their outlines for future research in this field

A constructability assessment model based on BIM in urban renewal projects in limited lands

One of the most significant concerns in urban development today is the organization of areas of cities that have become run-down over time. In order to complete previous constructability studies in other fields of construction, the current study evaluates constructability based on BIM, specifically in the context of the Tehran limited land renewal project. The motivation for this study is the current difficulties facing renewal designs for limited lands, and the lack of a quantitative constructability model for urban renewal projects in Iran. This paper aims (1) to discuss the design elements that should be considered in the design phase of urban renewal projects; (2) to identify the factors that may affect constructability; and (3) to propose a framework for assessing urban renewal designs by considering constructability factors using building information modeling (BIM). To meet these needs, this paper investigates constructability factors and their relative importance, considering the design elements that should be acknowledged in limited land renewal, using a multicriteria techniques. Some 28 constructability factors are identified through a literature review, and based on 52 responses received from a questionnaire survey, the factors are ranked using pairwise comparisons of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The final constructability factors that are identified through the technique for order preference using the similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method are standard dimensions, safety, simplification of structure, resource intelligence and alignment, and skilled labor availability. The contribution of this research to the body of knowledge is, firstly, the development of constructability factors for measuring the constructability of urban renewal designs, and secondly, the introduction of BIM as a most beneficial tool for assessing the constructability of the proposed designs. In using the constructability assessment framework and identifying the trade-offs between the constructability of renewal projects in the limited areas of urban spaces, design alternatives become more feasible