Differential construct definitions of six change score models within a correlational research context

Six change score models were comparatively evaluated within the correlational research context. The models compared included raw change, corrections of raw change for unreliability in x, correction of raw change for unreliability in both x and y, a regression correction, the raw residual model, and the base-free measure of change. The data were simulated for nine different parameter conditions. The manipulated parameter values were reliability coefficient values for x, y and w where x and y were the components of change and w was an outside variable, relative variability of x and y, colinearity between x and y, and relative validity coefficients for x and y. A set of true and two sets of observed change scores (total of 18 models) were generated for 2000 cases under each condition. Correlations among scores between models within and across conditions were generated. A principal component analysis was used to investigate the commonality of the change score models regarding the construct definition of change when w was considered and when w was partialed from the change score models. The latter analysis investigated the possible differential impact of w on the construct definition of change. The findings revealed that model differences do exist between the change scores under most of the parameter conditions, particularly for \sigma\sb{x} = \sigma\sb{y} where \rho\sb{xy} \sigma\sb{x} where \rho\sb{xy} = 0.75 when \rho \sb{xx\prime} \not= \rho\sb{yy\prime}. Selected parameter conditions had differential impact on discrepancy models versus residual models. Discrepancy models were more susceptible to manipulations of x and y variability, while the base-free measure of change was most affected by different reliability levels and colinearity coefficients. Removal of w had differential impact on the change score models. The results of this study lead to a conclusion that change scores in the form of any of the models are not sufficiently stable across research conditions to provide confidence in their use. Those conditions most favorable to change scores are rare in practice and use of a single variable (y) will result in an equal amount of information

Biodiesel Production from High Free Fatty Acid-Content Oils: Experimental Investigation of the Pretreatment Step

AbstractBiodiesel has the potential to become a suitable substitute for diesel fuel in the future. However, the reduction of production costs and finding a permanent oil source have remained the two main concerns for this green fuel. The production of biodiesel from acid oils is one of the ways to reduce biodiesel production costs. In addition, high free fatty acid oils are almost never categorized as edible oils. Consequently, this new material has a more reliable margin in debates concerning the security of food, compared to other oils considered in biodiesel production. By considering these important aspects of biodiesel production technology, this study investigates the pretreatment step of biodiesel production from acid oils. In this work, an oil with high free fatty acid content is selected and the main parameters in the biodiesel production reaction are investigated experimentally. The effects of methanol-to-oil ratio (in the range of 0.2 to 1.2 v/v), the amount of catalyst (in the range of 0.5 to 6% v/v) and time (in the range of 20 to 120min) on the progress of the reaction are studied

Sustainable health promotion and resilience in urban environment

A part of resilience and sustainability in any urban environment is establishing and maintaining health. Sustainability in health is a dynamic process in which growth of physical, mental, and social health is guaranteed. A city is sustainable when all aspects of life, such as economy, environment, health, and infrastructure, are well defined and very often subjected to optimization. © 2016 Sharif University of Technology. All rights reserved

INSTRUCTING RECEPTIVE PHRASE KNOWLEDGE THROUGH REPETITION VS. REPEATED EXPOSURES; A CASE OF MARITIME ENGLISH COURSE FOR IRANIAN SEAFARERS

The outcome of different vocabulary learning strategies might be different for different vocabulary forms, such phrases or single word items. Similarly, the depth of vocabulary knowledge (receptive vs. productive) is also another important factor that is neglected in many of researches dealing with vocabulary learning strategies. This study focused on learning vocabulary with the form of "phrase". The study aimed to evaluate the different functions of rote learning and repeated exposures on producing receptive vocabulary knowledge. 23 leaners of a Maritime English course were chosen as the participants of this study. They were instructed 14 vocabulary items, in two different lists of A and B, one list is instructed through traditional word list repetition and another one through multiple exposures. The learners were asked at the end of the course to translate the given phrases of the two lists in their first language. The number of correct answers of each list incited the effectiveness of related method of treatment. It was appeared that repeating the phrases from a list is more effective in growing receptive knowledge, although there was not a tremendous difference in the results.

“Recent Advances in Green Solvents”

This research received no external funding.publishersversionpublishe

Analysis of the spatial distribution of health care centers of Shahrekord by geographical information system

زمینه و هدف: توسعه فیزیکی نامتناسب شهرها و عدم تخصیص مناسب امکانات شهری از جمله توزیع نامتناسب مراکز بهداشتی درمانی سبب هدر رفت منابع مادی و انسانی شده و مشکلات شهر نشینی شهروندان را به دنبال داشته است. هدف از این پژوهش شناسایی مناطق فاقد دسترسی مناسب خدمات بهداشتی جهت توزیع بهینه امکانات بهداشتی بر اساس عدالت در سلامت در تمام مناطق شهری شهرکرد بوده است. روش بررسی: پژوهش حاضر یک مطالعه توصیفی- تحلیلی مبتنی بر روش‌های پژوهش اسنادی بود. پس از تلفیق دادهای تمام ده مرکز و پایگاه‌های بهداشتی درمانی سطح شهر شهرکرد، با استفاده از سیستم اطلاعات جغرافیایی با تعیین شعاع عملکردی و دسترسی در سال 1390، پراکنش فضایی این مراکز پس از تجزیه و تحلیل با استفاده از تحلیل سلسله مراتبی داده‌ها رتبه بندی مناطق انجام گردید. یافته ها: داده‌های مراکز و پایگاه‌های بهداشتی درمانی شهر شهرکرد نشان داد که اختلاف زیادی در تمام مراکز و پایگاه‌های بهداشتی شهر شهرکرد از نظر بیشترین به کم‌ترین وسعت تحت پوشش(4/4 برابر)، تعداد جمعیت (3/2 برابر) و تراکم جمعیتی (6/2 برابر) وجود دارد. مناطق حاشیه شمال و جنوب و شرق سطح دسترسی نامناسبی نسبت به مرکز شهر داشته و70 تراکم مراکز و پایگاه‌های بهداشتی شهر شهرکرد فاقد توزیع مناسب می‌باشند. نتیجه گیری: نتایج نشان می‌دهد که تراکم مراکز و پایگاه‌های بهداشتی شهر شهرکرد فاقد توزیع مناسب بوده و پراکنش مناسبی مشاهده نگردید. توزیع غیرمنطقی و محدوده بندی نامتناسب واحدهای بهداشتی منجر به کاهش سطح دسترسی مطلوب می‌شود که احتمال افت سطح شاخص‌های عدالت در سلامت را به دنبال خواهد داشت

Group contribution and atomic contribution models for the prediction of various physical properties of deep eutectic solvents

Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s).The urgency of advancing green chemistry from labs and computers into the industries is well-known. The Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) are a promising category of novel green solvents which simultaneously have the best advantages of liquids and solids. Furthermore, they can be designed or engineered to have the characteristics desired for a given application. However, since they are rather new, there are no general models available to predict the properties of DESs without requiring other properties as input. This is particularly a setback when screening is required for feasibility studies, since a vast number of DESs are envisioned. For the first time, this study presents five group contribution (GC) and five atomic contribution (AC) models for densities, refractive indices, heat capacities, speeds of sound, and surface tensions of DESs. The models, developed using the most up-to-date databank of various types of DESs, simply decompose the molecular structure into a number of predefined groups or atoms. The resulting AARD% of densities, refractive indices, heat capacities, speeds of sound and surface tensions were, respectively, 1.44, 0.37, 3.26, 1.62, and 7.59% for the GC models, and 2.49, 1.03, 9.93, 4.52 and 7.80% for the AC models. Perhaps, even more importantly for designer solvents, is the predictive capability of the models, which was also shown to be highly reliable. Accordingly, very simple, yet highly accurate models are provided that are global for DESs and needless of any physical property information, making them useful predictive tools for a category of green solvents, which is only starting to show its potentials in green technology.publishersversionpublishe

Patient Satisfaction With the Family Physician Program in Sabzevar, Iran

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Patient satisfaction with the family physician program is an important factor for more favorable treatment results. Evaluation of patient satisfaction improves the services and approximates them to patient's preferences. The family physician program has been executed since late March, 2005 in Iran. This study aimed to measure patient satisfaction with family physician services and determines factors affecting the level of satisfaction in order to propose appropriate suggestions for providing medical services based on patients' expectations. METHODS: Forty-one centers provide healthcare services in rural and urban areas. The participants in this study comprised 1263 people. The data were collected by an inventory with 11 items about demographic specifications, waiting time and the importance of physician's sex and 40 items for assessing the level of patient satisfaction. RESULTS: A total of 1199 patients participated in the current study, 72.1 of them were female and 19.6 waited 10-20 minutes for receiving services. About 55.72 of the participants chose high and very high for the items of the inventory. Total satisfaction with the family physician program decreased with age (p-value=0.029).Moreover, total satisfaction did not show any significant differences in different groups in terms of sex, place of residence, education level and marital status. Also family physicians' sex did not affect patient satisfaction significantly. Based on results of regression model, an increase in patients' age by one year decreased their satisfaction by 0.12 and level of satisfaction in rural patients was lower than that in urban patients by 7.93. CONCLUSIONS: The level of patient satisfaction with family physician services was moderate, which mostly arose from the components of the family physician program and services such as the waiting time, costs, welfare facilities, accessibility and the service-providing team rather than patients' personal characteristics

Viscosity investigations on the binary systems of (1 chcl:2 ethylene glycol) des and methanol or ethanol

Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.In this study, the viscosity behavior of two mixtures of Ethaline (1 ChCl:2 ethylene glycol) with either methanol or ethanol were investigated over the temperature range of 283.15–333.15 K at atmospheric pressure. The measured viscosities of neat Ethaline, methanol, and ethanol showed reliable agreement with the corresponding reported literature values. The mixture viscosities were modeled by an Arrhenius-like model to determine the behavior of viscosity with respect to temperature. The data were also modeled by the four well-known mixture viscosity models of Grunberg–Nissan, Jouyban–Acree, McAllister, and Preferential Solvation. All of the model results were reliable, with the Jouyban–Acree and Preferential Solvation models showing the most accurate agreement with the experimental measurements. The Jones–Dole viscosity model was also investigated for the measured viscosities, and by analyzing the results of this model, strong interactions among Ethaline and the alcohol molecules were proposed for both systems. As a final analysis, viscosity deviations of the investigated systems were calculated to study the deviations of the viscosity behaviors with respect to ideal behavior. Both systems showed negative viscosity deviations at all of the investigated temperatures, with the negative values tending towards zero, and hence more ideal behavior, with increasing temperatures. Moreover, in order to correlate the calculated viscosity deviations, the Redlich–Kister model was successfully used for both systems and at each investigated temperature.publishersversionpublishe