Effectiveness of Rich Document Representation in XML Retrieval

Information Retrieval (IR) systems are built with different goals in mind. Some IR systems target high precision that is to have more relevant documents on the first page of their results. Other systems may target high recall that is finding as many references as possible. In this paper we present a method of document representation called RDR to build XML retrieval engines with high specificity; that is finding more relevant documents that are mostly about the query topic. The Rich Document Representation (RDR) is a method of representing the content of a document with logical terms and statements. The conjecture is that since RDR is a better representation of the document content it will produce higher precision. On our implementation, we used the Vector Space model to compute the similarity between the XML elements and queries. Our experiments are conducted on INEX 2004 test collection. The results indicate that the use of richer features such as logical terms or statements for XML retrieval tends to produce more focused retrieval. Therefore it is a suitable document representation when users need only a few more specific references and are more interested in precision than recall

Energy, economic, and environmental analysis of converging air-based photovoltaic-thermal (air/PV-T) systems: A yearly benchmarking

Two converging channel configurations of photovoltaic-thermal (PV-T) systems, i.e., inlet and outlet at different sides (Case 1) and the inlet at the middle and outlets at the sides (Case 2), are investigated numerically. The results reveal that Case 1 features a nearly uniform and lower temperature distribution (up to 7 °C) for practical air flows, and the appropriate convergence ratio is 2:1 (inlet to outlet channel height) for which the PV surface temperature is lower by 8 °C than that of a similar conventional collector. Meanwhile, energy analyses based on the so called ‘rate of extra energy gain per PV surface area..

Using OWA fuzzy operator to merge retrieval system results

With rapid growth of information sources, it is essential to develop methods that retrieve most relevant information according to the user requirements. One way of improving the quality of retrieval is to use more than one retrieval engine and then merge the retrieved results and show a single ranked list to the user. There are studies that suggest combining the results of multiple search engines will improve ranking when these engine are treated as independent experts. In this study, we investigated performance of Persian retrieval by merging four different language modeling methods and two vector space models with Lnu.ltu and Lnc.btc weighting schemes. The experiments were conducted on a large Persian collection of news archives called Hamshari Collection. Different variations of the Ordered Weighted Average (OWA) fuzzy operators method, called a quantifier based OWA operator and a degree-of-importance based OWA operator method have been tested for merging the results. Our experimental results show that the OWA operators produce better precision and ranking in comparison with weaker retrieval methods. But in comparison with stronger retrieval models they only produce minimal improvements

An Epidemiological Study of Psychological Disorders in Chaharmohal & Bakhtiari Province, 2001

زمینه و هدف: برنامه‏ریزی برای ارایه خدمات اساسی بهداشت روان به افراد جامعه، نیازمند آگاهی از وضعیت موجود بیماری روانی در جامعه است. این مطالعه با هدف بررسی همه‏گیری‏شناسی اختلالات روانی در افراد 18 سال به بالاتر مناطق شهری و روستایی استان چهارمحال و بختیاری انجام گرفت. روش مطالعه: نمونه های مورد مطالعه با روش نمونه‏گیری تصادفی خوشه‏ای و سیستماتیک از بین خانوارهای موجود استان چهارمحال و بختیاری انتخاب گردیدند و از طریق تکمیل پرسشنامه اختلالات عاطفی و اسکیزوفرنیا (SADS=Schedale Affective Disorders Schizophrenia) توسط کارشناسان روانشناسی در استان، جمعاً 305 نفر مورد مطالعه قرار گرفتند. تشخیص‏گذاری اختلالات بر اساس معیارهای طبقه‏بندی DSM-IV است. نتایج: نتایج این بررسی نشان داد شیوع انواع اختلالات روانی در استان 42/16 می‏باشد که این شیوع در زنان 20 و در مردان 14/13 است. اختلالات اضطرابی و عصبی‌ شناختی به ترتیب با 52/9 و 28/3، شایع‏ترین اختلالات روانی در استان بودند. شیوع اختلالات پسیکوتیک در این مطالعه 33/0، اختلالات خلقی 63/2 و اختلالات تجزیه‏ای 66/0 بود. در گروه اختلالات خلقی، افسردگی اساسی با 30/2 و در گروه اختلالات اضطرابی، اختلال فوبی با 62/2 شیوع بیشتری داشتند. شیوع اختلالات روانی در استان در افراد گروه سنی 65-56 سال با 30، افراد همسر فوت شده با 25، افراد ساکن در مناطق شهری با 53/15، افراد بی‏سواد با 66/12 و افراد بیکار با 74/21 بیش از گروه‌های دیگر بود. نتیجه‌گیری: در این مطالعه 49/10 افراد مورد مطالعه دچار حداقل یک اختلال روانی بودند. لذا نتایج این تحقیق مسئولیت سیاستگذاران و برنامه‌ریزان بهداشتی استان چهارمحال و بختیاری و کشور در رابطه با تدوین برنامه‌های عملی و اجرایی بهداشت روان را بیش از پیش روشن می‌سازد

Persuasive Discourse Impairments in Traumatic Brain Injury

Background: Considering the cognitive and linguistic complexity of discourse production, it is expected that individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) should face difficulties in this task. Therefore, clinical examination of discourse has become a useful tool for studying and assessment of communication skills of people suffering from TBI. Among different genres of discourse, persuasive discourse is considered as a more cognitively demanding task. However, little is known about persuasive discourse in individuals suffering from TBI. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of adults with TBI on a task of spoken persuasive discourse to determine the impaired linguistic measures. Patients and Methods: Thirteen TBI nonaphasic Persian speaking individuals, ranged between 19 to 40 years (Mean = 25.64 years; SD = 6.10) and 59 healthy adults matched by age, were asked to perform the persuasive discourse task. The task included asking the participants to express their opinion on a topic, and after the analysis of the produced discourse, the two groups were compared on the basis of their language productivity, sentential complexity, maze ratio and cohesion ratio. Results: The TBI group produced discourses with less productivity, sentential complexity, cohesion ratio and more maze ratio compared the control group. Conclusions: As it is important to consider acquired communication disorders particularly discourse impairment of brain injured patients along with their other clinical impairments and regarding the fact that persuasive discourse is crucial in academic and social situations, the persuasive discourse task presented in this study could be a useful tool for speech therapists, intending to evaluate communication disorders in patients with TBI

Balance performance of deaf children with and without cochlear implants

The aim of this study was to compare the static and dynamic balance performance of deaf children with and without cochlear implants. This is a cross-sectional study of 145 school children, aged between 7 and 12 years comprising 85 children with congenital or early acquired bilateral profound sensorineural hearing loss (the hearing loss group) and 60 normal hearing aged-matched control counterparts were assessed using the balance subtest of Bruininks-Oseretsky test of Motor Proficiency (BOTMP). The hearing loss group, 50 without cochlear implants (the non-implant group) and 35 of them with unilateral cochlear implants (the implant group) were recruited from schools for the deaf and normal hearing children (the control group) randomly selected from two randomly selected elementary schools of Tehran city. The scores were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. The total score of deaf children especially the implant group were significantly lower than the control group)P<0.001). The balance performance of the control group was better than the implant group in all of the items as well as the non-implant group except the fourth tested item (walking forward on a line) (P<0.05). The balance score of the implant group was significantly lower than the non-implant group except for the third tested item (standing on the preferred leg on a balance beam with eyes closed). The findings suggested that deaf children, specifically those with cochlear implants are at risk for motor and balance deficits. Thus, vestibular and motor evaluations, as well as interventions to improve balance and motor skills, should be prioritized for this population. © 2016 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. All rights reserved

Psychosocial predictors of Barriers to cervical cancer screening among Iranian women: the role of attachment style and social demographic factors

Objectives. Despite advances in screening and treatment during past several Decades, cervical cancer remains a major health problem for Iranian women. Recent researches have focused on factors related to development of health behavior in an effort to design effective early interventions. The current study aimed to investigate the role of attachment styles on cervix cancer screen- ing barriers among women of BandarAbbas-Iran. Methods. In an analytic-cross sectional study, 681 women aged 21-65 referring to health centers were selected randomly and after completing written informed consents were investigated by Revised Adult Attachment Scale (RAAS) (Collins and Read), Pap smear screening barriers and demographic data questionnaire. The data were analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient, linear regressions and chi-square test. Results. The results showed significant association between attachment styles and screening barriers. There was a negative significant relation between secure attachment style and screening barriers and there was a positive significant association between insecure attachment style (anxiety and avoidant) and screening barriers. The regression analysis indicated that insecure attachment style (avoid- ant) were predictors of barriers to the Pap smear screening test in this regard. There was a significant association between age and residential area and participation in Pap smear test. Conclusions. Insecure attachment style is associated with hazardous risk behaviors and these results can be useful for health service providers in preventive planning of screening and identi- fication of people susceptible to risk and the design of the inter- vention

The effect of spiritual care on depression in patients following coronary artery bypass surgery: A randomized controlled trial

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of a nurse-delivered spiritual care intervention on depression following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. A semi-experimental study was performed in Baqiyatallah al-Azam Military Hospital of Tehran, Iran in 2013. Sixty-eight patients undergoing coronary artery grafts were purposefully selected and randomly assigned into the intervention (n = 34) and control (usual care) groups (n = 34). The intervention group received five sessions of spiritual care lasting between 45-60 minutes using the approach of Bergin Richards (2005). The control group received only routine standard care. The mean depression scores were measured using the depression subscale of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21). At baseline (p = 0.051), there were no differences in the mean depression scores. Post intervention, statistically significant differences were observed in the mean depression scores between groups (p < 0.001). The results showed that the use of spiritual care can decrease depression in the intervention group. These findings suggested that nurses could use spiritual care to improve psychological care

Prevalence and correlates of psychiatric disorders in a national survey of Iranian children and adolescents

Objective: Considering the impact of rapid sociocultural, political, and economical changes on societies and families, population-based surveys of mental disorders in different communities are needed to describe the magnitude of mental health problems and their disabling effects at the individual, familial, and societal levels. Method: A population-based cross sectional survey (IRCAP project) of 30 532 children and adolescents between 6 and 18 years was conducted in all provinces of Iran using a multistage cluster sampling method. Data were collected by 250 clinical psychologists trained to use the validated Persian version of the semi-structured diagnostic interview Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-PL (K-SADS-PL). Results: In this national epidemiological survey, 6209 out of 30 532 (22.31%) were diagnosed with at least one psychiatric disorder. The anxiety disorders (14.13%) and behavioral disorders (8.3%) had the highest prevalence, while eating disorders (0.13%) and psychotic symptoms (0.26%) had the lowest. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders was significantly lower in girls (OR = 0.85; 95% CI: 0.80-0.90), in those living in the rural area (OR = 0.80; 95% CI: 0.73-0.87), in those aged 15-18 years (OR = 0.92; 95% CI: 0.86-0.99), as well as that was significantly higher in those who had a parent suffering from mental disorders (OR = 1.96; 95% CI: 1.63-2.36 for mother and OR = 1.33; 95% CI: 1.07-1.66 for father) or physical illness (OR = 1.26; 95% CI: 1.17-1.35 for mother and OR = 1.19; 95% CI: 1.10-1.28 for father). Conclusion: About one fifth of Iranian children and adolescents suffer from at least one psychiatric disorder. Therefore, we should give a greater priority to promoting mental health and public health, provide more accessible services and trainings, and reduce barriers to accessing existing services. © 2019 Tehran University of Medical Scienc

Prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder in Iran

BACKGROUND: Estimates of the annual prevalence for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) were consistent across the international sites range, 1.9% – 2.5%. The nine population surveys, which used Diagnostic Interview Schedule, estimated a six-month prevalence of OCD ranging from 0.7% to 2.1%. This study performed in order to determine the prevalence of OCD in a population-based study among Iranian adults aged 18 and older and to study the association of them with factors such as sex, marital status, education, type of occupation and residential area. METHODS: A cross-sectional nationwide epidemiological study of the Iranian population aged 18 and older was designed to estimate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and their association with the above mentioned factors. 25180 individuals were selected and interviewed through a randomized systematic and cluster sampling method from all Iranian households. Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS) and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV) criteria were used in diagnosis of OCD. 250 clinical psychologists interviewed the selected subjects face to face at their homes. RESULTS: The prevalence of OCD in Iran is 1.8% (0.7% and 2.8% in males and females; respectively). 50.3% of the survey sample were men, 49.9% women, 29.1% single, 67.45% married, 0.4% separated or divorced, 2.5% widow/widower and 4% undetermined. All of the above-mentioned factors were examined in the univariate and multivariate logistic regression models. Although the data did not fit the models well, but in univariate models, sex, the category "single" of marital status, age, the categories "business" and "housewife" and residential areas showed significant effect adjusting for the factors, but the models didn't fit the data properly. CONCLUSION: The study suggests that the prevalence of OCD is not rare in the community of Iran and is within the range of other countries. Similar to prior studies in other communities, OCD is more common in females than males