The Effect of Exclosures on \u3cem\u3ePoa bulbosa\u3c/em\u3e and Determination of Predation: A Case Study in the Nodoushan Rangelands, Central Steppe of Iran

In order to undertake investigations leading to reclamation management for rangelands, information is needed on the effect of exclosures on the production and morphology of key species such as Poa bulbosa. This paper describes a comparison of some morphological and ecological characteristics of P. bulbosa when subjected to grazing or protected long-term with exclosures. The investigation was undertaken on the Nodoushan rangelands of Yazd Province, Iran

The Effect of Exclosure Grazing on the Distribution Pattern of Two Important Shrubs in the Central Steppe of Iran

As part of a program to improve management of rangeands, research is being undertaken on the effects of grazing intensity on vegetation communities, including the response of different plant species to long-term exclosure from grazing. Species dispersion patterns can be used as valid indicators for condition assessment of rangeland ecosystems. Landsberg et al. (2002) and Riginos and Hoffman (2003) found that excessive grazing changed the structure and composition of plant communities, increasing the abundance of some species and reducing the presence of others. Heavy grazing leads to the excessive defoliation of herbaceous plants, reducing their biomass, basal cover and plant species diversity (Bilotta et al. 2007). Understanding the response of plants to different grazing intensities is crucial to devising management strategies for arid and semi-arid area which conserve biodiversity and sustain their use (Hoshino et al. 2009). This paper describes the distribution of two important shrub components of local rangelands in Iran

An Investigation into the Effects of Rural Roads on Plant Diversity of Roadsides in Arid Rangelands of Iran

Roads are essential elements of human societies. Rural roads are clear indicators of rural development. Most rural roads in Iran are dirt roads and roadside vegetation is an important part of the ecosystem. Making roads can change the microclimate, including the light regime, pH and organic matter of soil, hydrological and sedimentation regimes (Karim and Mallik 2008; Hayasakaa et al. 2012). This can affect the composition of vegetation, with increased density and frequency of some fast-growing species close to the road for example (Parendes and Jones 2000). Road-building can also contaminate the air, soil, and water, with destruction of some species (Coffin 2007, Liu 2011). Roads also interrupt the uniformity of vegetation. Vegetation close to the road can be more diverse compared to that further away. In this study, the effect of proximity of dirt roads on vegetation is discussed

Unexplained neonatal jaundice as an early diagnostic sign of urinary tract infection

SummaryBackgroundHyperbilirubinemia is one of the presenting signs of bacterial infection in newborns, and the association of neonatal jaundice with urinary tract infection (UTI) has been particularly emphasized. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of UTI in asymptomatic jaundiced neonates younger than 4 weeks old.MethodsWe prospectively evaluated 120 asymptomatic jaundiced and 122 healthy neonates without jaundice younger than 4 weeks old for UTI. Patients with UTI, defined as >10 000 colony-forming units of a single pathogen per milliliter urine obtained by bladder catheterization, were evaluated for sepsis.ResultsOf 120 asymptomatic jaundiced neonates with a mean age of 7 ± 4 days, 15 (12.5%) had a UTI. Of 122 healthy neonates, positive urine cultures from a urine bag were found in eight cases; however on reevaluation, urine cultures from bladder catheterization were negative. The most common pathogen isolated from the UTI cases was Klebsiella pneumoniae. Also, unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia was detected in all jaundiced patients with UTI.ConclusionUTI was found in 12.5% of the asymptomatic jaundiced neonates with the onset of unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia in the first week of life. Therefore, we suggest that urine culture should be considered as a part of the diagnostic evaluation of jaundiced neonates older than 3 days with an unexplained etiology

To authorize or not authorize: helping users review access policies in organizations

ABSTRACT This work addresses the problem of reviewing complex access policies in an organizational context using two studies. In the first study, we used semi-structured interviews to explore the access review activity and identify its challenges. The interviews revealed that access review involves challenges such as scale, technical complexity, the frequency of reviews, human errors, and exceptional cases. We also modeled access review in the activity theory framework. The model shows that access review requires an understanding of the activity context including information about the users, their job, their access rights, and the history of access policy. We then used activity theory guidelines to design a new user interface named AuthzMap. We conducted an exploratory user study with 340 participants to compare the use of AuthzMap with two existing commercial systems for access review. The results show that AuthzMap improved the efficiency of access review in 5 of the 7 tested scenarios, compared to the existing systems. AuthzMap also improved accuracy of actions in one of the 7 tasks, and only negatively affected accuracy in one of the tasks

Mammographic Findings after Intraoperative Radiotherapy of the Breast

Intraoperative Radiotherapy (IORT) is a form of accelerated partial breast radiation that has been shown to be equivalent to conventional whole breast external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) in terms of local cancer control. However, questions have been raised about the potential of f IORT to produce breast parenchymal changes that could interfere with mammographic surveillance of cancer recurrence. The purpose of this study was to identify, quantify, and compare the mammographic findings of patients who received IORT and EBRT in a prospective, randomized controlled clinical trial of women with early stage invasive breast cancer undergoing breast conserving therapy between July 2005 and December 2009. Treatment groups were compared with regard to the 1, 2 and 4-year incidence of 6 post-operative mammographic findings: architectural distortion, skin thickening, skin retraction, calcifications, fat necrosis, and mass density. Blinded review of 90 sets of mammograms of 15 IORT and 16 EBRT patients demonstrated a higher incidence of fat necrosis among IORT recipients at years 1, 2, and 4. However, none of the subjects were judged to have suspicious mammogram findings and fat necrosis did not interfere with mammographic interpretation

Radiotherapy after mastectomy for screen-detected ductal carcinoma in situ

Background. A role for radiotherapy after mastectomy for ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is unclear. Using a prospective audit of DCIS detected through the NHS Breast Screening Programme we sought to determine a rationale for the use of postmastectomy radiotherapy for DCIS. Methods. Over a nine year period, from 9,972 patients with screen-detected DCIS and complete surgical, pathology, radiotherapy and follow up data, 2,944 women underwent mastectomy for DCIS of whom 33 (1.12%) received radiotherapy. Results. Use of post mastectomy radiotherapy was significantly associated with a close (<1mm) pathology margin, particularly (χ2(1) 95.81; p<0.00001), DCIS size (χ2 (3) 16.96; p<0.001) and the presence of microinvasion (χ2(1) 3.92; p<0.05). At median follow up 61 months, no woman who received radiotherapy had an ipsilateral further event, and only 1/33 women (3.0%) had a contralateral event. Of the women known not to have had radiotherapy post mastectomy, 45/2,894 (1.6%) had an ipsilateral further event and 83 (2.9%) had a contralateral event. Conclusion: For DCIS treated by mastectomy, a close (<1mm) margin, large tumour size and microinvasion, may merit radiotherapy to reduce ipsilateral recurrence

Towards understanding how users decide about friendship requests in Online Social Networks

Accepting friend requests from strangers in Facebook-like online social networks is known to be a risky behavior. Still, empirical evidence suggests that Facebook users often accept such requests with high rate. As a first step towards technology support of users in their decisions about friend requests, we investigate why users accept such requests. We conducted two studies of users’ befriending behavior on Facebook. Based on 20 interviews with active Facebook users, we developed a friend request acceptance model that explains how various factors influence user acceptance behavior. To test and refine our model, we also conducted a quantitative study with 397 participants using Amazon Mechanical Turk. We found that four factors significantly impact the receiver’s decision towards requests sent from strangers, namely, knowing the requester’s in real world, having common hobbies or interests, having mutual friends, and the closeness of mutual friends. Based on our findings, we offer design recommendations for improving the usability of the corresponding user interfaces in order to help users make more informed decisions.Applied Science, Faculty ofElectrical and Computer Engineering, Department ofGraduat