Effects of “FIRST2ACT” Model on Knowledge and Practical Skills of Difficult Airway Management in Nurse Anesthesia Students: An Interventional Study

Introduction: An important part of anesthesia management is opening and maintaining the patient’s airway. Failure to establish and maintain a safe airway for patients during anesthesia is a life-threatening condition. Despite advances in science and technology, difficult airway management is far from ideal. Providing a simulated environment for critical situations seems to be the best way to better educate and prevent medical errors. This study aimed to compare the effect of the FIRST2ACT (Feedback Incorporating Review and Simulation Techniques to Act on Clinical Trend) model on knowledge and practical skills of difficult airway management and respiratory accidents between the intervention and control groups.Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental intervention with before and after design. Sampling was done by census method and the participants were third and fourth-year nurse anesthesia students (n=62). The students were randomly allocated to an intervention group (n=31) educated and practicing based on the FIRST2ACT model and a control group (n=31). The intervention consisted of five stages: developing core knowledge, assessment, simulation, reflective review, and performance feedback, all based on the FIRST2ACT model. Theoretical and practical skills were examined in the participants. Data collection tools included a questionnaire and a checklist.Results: The results showed that after applying the FIRST2ACT model, the intervention group scored higher than the control group in both theoretical knowledge (17.87±1.43 vs. 12.67±1.35) and practical skills (134.28±3.21 vs. 81.58±8.55). This difference in results between the two groups was statistically significant (P˂0.001).Conclusion: It can be concluded that using this model was effective to improve the knowledge and practical skills of nurse anesthesia students in the field of difficult airway management and respiratory accidents during anesthesia

A Review of Manufacturing Process of Polyethylene Pipe and Connectors for Applying in High-Pressure Natural Gas Pipelines

In this article various pipes used for transporting of gas are introduced and pros and cons of each one are elucidated. The pipes are categorized in three different subgroups including metallic, polymeric and metallic-wire reinforced polymeric pipes. Metallic-wire reinforced polymeric pipes are nominated as the best option for usage in high pressure pipelines transporting natural gas. As a result, some information about major manufacturers of this kind of polymeric pipes, raw material, production process and metallic-wire orientation are presented. Finally, from economical point of view, some calculations are done to estimate required amount of polymer and metallic-wire to manufacture such pipes. It is also possible to compare their manufacturing cost with usual metallic and polymeric pipes

A New Technique for Quantitative Determination of Dexamethasone in Pharmaceutical and Biological Samples Using Kinetic Spectrophotometric Method

Dexamethasone is a type of steroidal medications that is prescribed in many cases. In this study, a new reaction system using kinetic spectrophotometric method for quantitative determination of dexamethasone is proposed. The method is based on the catalytic effect of dexamethasone on the oxidation of Orange G by bromate in acidic media. The change in absorbance as a criterion of the oxidation reaction progress was followed spectrophotometrically. To obtain the maximum sensitivity, the effective reaction variables were optimized. Under optimized experimental conditions, calibration graph was linear over the range 0.2–54.0 mg L−1. The calculated detection limit (3sb/m) was 0.14 mg L−1 for six replicate determinations of blank signal. The interfering effect of various species was also investigated. The present method was successfully applied for the determination of dexamethasone in pharmaceutical and biological samples satisfactorily

Relationship Between the Process Parameters and Resin Content of a Glass/Epoxy Prepreg Produced by Dipping Method

The properties of prepregs are characterized in terms of their volatile content, resin content, the degree of pre-cure, void content, tack and flow ability. Resin content is one of the most important properties of prepregs so that its changing will result in altered properties such as, tack and resin flow. In order to monitor the resin content, a quantitative relation to the processing parameters such as line speed, viscosity and distance between the resin up taking rollers have to be determined. In this study, a tri-axial E-glass fabric with the areal weight of 1025 g/m2 and an epoxy resin (Epon 828) were used to produce the prepreg by the dipping method. In the theoretical part of this work, the free coating is studied and as a result the thickness layer of the coating resin through the resin bath is calculated by Landau-Levich model. In continuation, the achieved thickness was considered as a feed for the calendering process. Using the momentum equation for the passing impregnated fibres through the extra resin uptake rollers, the relation between the internal resin layer thickness and final coating resin layer thickness was achieved in an integral equation form. In order to solve this integral equation, MAPLE software was applied. The theoretical results were in good agreement with the experimental data and showed that the resin content increased linearly with increasing the distance between rollers, the radius and roller angular velocity. In contrast, the resin content decreased with increasing the line speed. According to our calculations, the effect of the resin viscosity variation on the resin content was negligibly small

<b>A solvent free and selective method for preparation of triphenylmethyl ethers of alcohols and nucleosides</b>

A very simple and efficient method is described for protection of alcohols and nucleosides with trityl(triphenylmethyl), mono and dimethoxytrityl chlorides in the presence of triethylamine under microwave irradiation. High selectivity was observed for tritylation of 5'-OH function of nucleosides

Theoretical and Behavioral Conformity in Scientific Ethics Norms of Students

This article aims to achieve the theoretical and behavioral preferences on scientific Ethics norms among PhD students and the level of conformity and unconformity of theoretical and behavioral preferences on scientific Ethics norms among PhD students. It also aims to achieve the realities based on the conflicts and to explain factors related to level of conflict of these values. This article has a combined approach ranging from Ethics theories based on inter- role conflict of Dahrendorf, scientific Ethics indicators of Resnick, Merton, Parsons, Goffman and Ethics Growth theories.  Methodology is based on a field survey and its population is PhD students of fields of humanities, engineering and basic sciences from Shahid Beheshti University. One hundred ninety-six students were chosen by complete enumeration method and they were under a test by a questionnaire with total validity 80% and 81% .The results showed there is no complete conformity between theoretical and behavioral preferences on scientific Ethics norms among PhD students so that 16.33 of the students have over 60% conformity and 83.68 of them have over 40% unconformity and The level of unconformity in the theoretical and behavioral preferences on scientific Ethics norms are different in the three fields (among PhD students of fields of humanities, engineering and basic sciences). In addition, when the theoretical preferences -12 Ethics indicators- are considered to each other, there is no conflict among them but in the comparison of the theoretical preferences and behavioral preferences, there is unconformity (conflict) between theoretical and behavioral preferences

Incentive Regulation of Investment Costs: The Case Study of Iranian Electricity Distribution Companies

This study presents a model of regulation of investment costs of Iranian electricity distribution companies through penalty and rewards of these companies. Within this framework, overinvestment can result in partial disallowance of investment costs. The results of surveying 39 Iranian electricity distribution companies over the period of 2011-2017 indicate that using the proposed regulatory model, it is possible to achieve an optimal level of investment in the entire electricity distribution network by reallocation of investment among small, medium and large companies, without lowering the efficiency of the industry

On the spectral coherence between two periodically correlated processes

We introduce a general class of multivariate periodically correlated processes and their corresponding time-domain and spectral-domain characterizations. A spectral coherence based on the Hilbert�Schmidt inner product of the Fourier transforms is introduced to measure the dependence of two periodically correlated (PC) processes. An estimator for the spectral coherence is introduced and studied. A hypothesis on the presence of significant dependence is formulated and the corresponding testing procedure established. Numerical illustrations on the performance of the spectral coherence and its estimator are given using simulated and real PC time series. © 2021 Statistical Society of Canada

Quality of Services and Efficiency: Evidence from Iranian Electricity Distribution Companies

In analyzing the efficiency of electricity distribution companies, according to the economies of scale hypothesis, due to the existence of natural monopoly properties, larger firms are expected to be technically more efficient (ceteris paribus). To investigate this issue, this study assessed the technical efficiency, economies of scale, and economies of scope of Iranian electricity distribution companies during 2011-2017 and examined their relationship with company size. For this purpose, the stochastic frontier analysis technique and the input distance function approach were used. The results show that technical efficiency first decreases and then increases with increasing company size. The results also show that economies of scale are present in most companies, although the use of economies of scale decreases as company size increases. Finally, economies of scope were observed in all the companies studied, and their magnitude decreases as company size increases. Therefore, it can be said that the hypothesis of economies of scale implying higher technical efficiency of larger companies, is not confirmed, although the necessary condition for the establishment of a natural monopoly is present in Iranian electricity distribution companie

A consistent estimator for spectral density matrix of a discrete time periodically correlated process

&nbsp;In this article, we introduce a weighted periodogram in the class of smoothed periodograms as a consistent estimator for the spectral density matrix of a periodically correlated process. We derive its limiting distribution that appears to be a certain finite linear combination of Wishart distribution. We also provide numerical derivations for our smoothed periodogram and exhibit its asymptotic consistency using simulated data.&nbsp;In this article, we introduce a weighted periodogram in the class of smoothed periodograms as a consistent estimator for the spectral density matrix of a periodically correlated process. We derive its limiting distribution that appears to be a certain finite linear combination of Wishart distribution. We also provide numerical derivations for our smoothed periodogram and exhibit its asymptotic consistency using simulated data