Analysis of partial safety factor method based on reliability analysis and probabilistic methods

The partial safety factor method is the main safety concept applied across structural design standards. This method is also presented in EN-1990 as the basis of structural design in Europe. In the review of this code for the new generation of Eurocodes, analysis of the partial safety factor method seems necessary. The origin of the partial safety factor method is related to probabilistic methods and reliability analysis. Therefore, the latter is selected as tools for the evaluation of the partial safety factor method in the EN-1990 framework. Consequently this research begins with an explanation of the background of partial safety factor methods and reliability analysis. Different aspects of this safety concept are investigated through this study. The analysis strategy is based on the study of partial safety factor method according to the different part of EN-1990. The research is divided into two main parts, according to the basic components of limit state functions: load and resistance. Aspects related to loading are investigated first. The available load combinations and the recommended partial factors are investigated based on their reliability levels. The load combinations are compared with each other according to the sustainability of their design. An increased factor for the application of snow load is proposed to overcome safety problems related to snow load on structures. Consequently, a proposal for simplifying these load combinations is offered and verified according to reliability analysis. In the final step, regarding the load’s partial factors, a method of calibration is proposed, based on Monte Carlo reliability analysis. Afterwards, the aspects related to the resistance are analyzed. Resistances depend mostly on experimental data. Therefore, the relationship between the partial safety factor of resistance and test numbers is investigated. A probabilistic analysis based on Annex D of EN-1990 is then applied to calculate the model uncertainty partial factor and the resistance partial factor for a database from masonry shear walls. A comparison is made to show the influence of different way of partial safety factor utilization in a limit state function.:1 Introduction 2 Partial safety factor method and EN-1990 3 Reliability analysis 4 Load combinations and partial safety factors 5 Resistance partial safety factor 6 Summary and outloo

MISUNDERSTANDING OF ROLE AND POSITION OF ACCOUNTING STANDARD SETTING AUTHORITIES TO REDUCE INFORMATION ASYMMETRY: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE OF IRAN

Purpose - Critical role of accounting and financial reporting is providing useful information for different and entitled users to help them in making economical decisions. While repeatedly it is stressed that the quality of financial information is a function of both the quality of accounting standards and the regulatory enforcement, it is vital that standard setting authorities bodies to have independence and suitable enforcement power to guarantee their issued standards implementation with accountants in preparing and releasing accounting information, where their enacting mechanisms differ significantly across countries, even being non-existent in some countries. This study seeks with aid of Abdolmohammadi’s enforcement powers classification of standards (2002) including: Reward, Legitimate, Referent, Expert and Coercive Powers, determine from perspective of respondents and current condition of accounting profession, which powers are dominant, besides it also tends to evaluate past performance of Iranian accounting regulatory. Design/methodology/approach - in order to test two main hypotheses of the study, a suitable questionnaire was used with some questions about current condition of enforcement ways of accounting standards in Iran. 281 questionnaires distributed among accounting related financial society members including: accountants, auditors, bank specialists, and accounting students as agents of financial society. After assuring of its validity and reliability, collected data tested by Kruskal-Wallis, Friedman, and T-test statistical methods. Findings - The results showed that among various enforcement accounting standards powers respondents believe coercive power is more apparent and main motivation for providing accounting formal reports in accordance to GAAP come from managers’ concern of blocking their companies stock dealing by Tehran Stock Exchange organization, besides they accept standard setting professional abilities. Also respondents believe that Iran’s Audit organization in standard setting process has had behaved unfairly and didn’t pay attention to regulate accounting of governmental and Not-For-Profits parts as equal as large private corporation accounting. Research limitation/implication - A key technical result is that the five original powers of enforcement accounting standards don’t have equal weight and influence on current accounting environment of Iran and to enhance disclosure quality and reduce information asymmetry, some work must been done to more highlight powers with positive and professional perspective. Practical implications - The paper will be of interest to standards setting authority bodies’ when regulating accounting information releasing process to achieve high level of market efficiency and also to academics’ investigating the reliability and value of current standard setting condition. Originality value - The paper reports an original application of accounting standard enforcement origins as a determinant level of dominance financial wisdom in financial society of Iran.Accounting standard, enforcement powers, Information asymmetry, financial wisdom, and fairness in standard setting.

Simultaneous Occurrence of Dysrhythmia and Seizure as a Diagnostic Difficulty; a Case Report

Torsades de pointes (TdP) is a rare but hazardous ventricular dysrhythmia caused by an increase in the QT interval of the heart rhythm and is categorized into congenital or acquired types. Signs and symptoms of TdP include syncope, seizure, ventricular fibrillation, and even sudden death. According to statistics, among these symptoms, syncope and the seizure can be considered as signs that make the TdP diagnosis difficult. Here, we present an infant referring to Vali-e-Asr Hospital in Birjand with frequent seizures and aspiration pneumonia. She was diagnosed with Torsades de Pointes and a medium-sized patent ductus arteriosus, and subsequently underwent a patent ductus arteriosus ligation

Consideration of Partial safety factor method for snow load

The partial safety factor method is the concept used in the current Eurocode system. Recommended partial safety factors application should lead to results which are compatible with the safety requirements. These requirements are represented by the target values of reliability in EN-1990. Different basic variables such as actions, resistance and geometry are contributing in the reliability of structures. Variable loads and climate actions have high values of coefficient of variation. This high deviation has a strong influence in cases with high ratios of variable load to permanent actions. The reliability calculations show that in the presence of snow and low ratio of permanent load, the current partial factors are not satisfying the target reliably level. This phenomenon usually is occurring in the case of light-weight structures. In order to reach the target reliability level, more safety measures are required to be introduced for design with snow actions. A new method for applying an increasing factor for a partial factor of snow actions is proposed and investigated based on reliability analysis. Different ratios of loading with all possible load combinations in EN-1990 and different types of structure are considered to be compared with the results of the Eurocode. Application of this new strategy is providing more consistent behavior of reliability in the whole range of load ratios. Introducing the increasing factor leads to a higher reliability level

THE EFFECT OF REGULAR PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AT HOME ON PATIENTS'PHYSICAL STATUS AFTER CORONARY ARTERY BYPASSES SURGERY

Introduction: Chronic diseases such as heart diseases have adverse effects on the physical, psychological, social performance, and overall quality of life of patients. This study aimed to determine the effect of regular physical activity at home on the quality of life in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery. Methods: This Quasi-experimental study was carried out on patients who had undergone coronary artery bypass surgeries.58 patients from Urmia Syedolshoheda hospital were selected randomly and then allocated into two intervention and control groups randomly. Data collected with using MacNew quality of life questionnaire. Patients in intervention group were trained with combined exercises at least three times a week and performed this exercises for 12 week at home. Data were analyzed using Chi-sqaure, Mann-Whitney and Wilcoxon testes. Results: Findings of the study showed promotion in quality of life domains in physical, emotional and social after performance of regular physical activity at home in intervention group (P=0.001). A significant difference was observed between patients quality of life after regular physical activity in intervention and the control groups (P=0.001). Conclusion: Regular physical activity at home has important effects on patients' promotion of quality of life after coronary artery bypass surgeries. Therefore, it is suggested that after CABG patients be trained with regular physical activity at home

Sonographic fatty liver in overweight and obese children, a cross sectional study in Isfahan

Introduction: Children’s obesity is a known health problem in the world and is a strong predictor of obesity in adulthood which increases the incidence of related diseases such as metabolic syndrome. According to the MONIKA project by the World Health Organization (WHO), Iran is one of the seven countries with a high rate of child obesity. Fatty liver is an abnormality related to metabolic syndrome, with higher prevalence in obese children according to some previous studies. This study investigates the presence of Sonographic Fatty Liver (SFL) in Iranian obese children in comparison with normal and overweight children. Material and methods: This was a cross-sectional study on 962 randomly selected children between the ages of 6 to 18 years. The subjects were divided into three groups of normal, overweight and obese based on body mass index (BMI). A questionnaire including demographic and anthropometric characteristics was filled for each one. To detect the presence of SFL all the subjects underwent assessments with ultrasonography by radiologist who was not aware of their BMI. The incidence of SFL was determined based on the ultrasonographic diagnosis criteria. Results: The average age of the children in the study was 12.59 ± 3.25 years. The mean of the liver span in the normal, overweight and obese groups were 111.36 ± 18.73, 121.18 ± 16.63 and 118.21 ± 19.15 respectively. The prevalence of SFL in obese children was 54.4%, which was significantly higher than overweight (10.5%) and normal ones (1%). According to present results, there was no significant difference in prevalence of SFL between sexes. Conclusions: The high rate of detected SFL in obese children in this study suggests that Iranian obese children are at risk of metabolic syndrome. Moreover, the WHO indicated Iran as one of the countries with high rate of obese children. Based on this information, we can conclude that the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its related non-communicable diseases will be increasing future in . Therefore, it is necessary to develop some plan to control overweight problem including teaching healthy lifestyle in schools and kindergartens as well as mass media.Wstęp: Otyłość u dzieci jest znanym na świecie problemem zdrowotnym oraz silnym czynnikiem prognostycznym wystąpienia otyłości w wieku dorosłym, która zwiększa częstość chorób jej towarzyszących, takich jak zespół metaboliczny. Według projektu Światowej Organizacji Zdrowia (WHO, World Health Organization) MONIKA Iran jest jednym z siedmiu krajów o dużym odsetku dzieci otyłych. Stłuszczenie wątroby jest zaburzeniem towarzyszącym zespołowi metabolicznemu, zgodnie z wynikami niektórych wcześniejszych badań, często występującym u otyłych dzieci. W niniejszej pracy badano obecność ultrasonograficznie rozpoznanego stłuszczenia wątroby (SFL) w populacji otyłych dzieci irańskich w porównaniu z grupą dzieci z nadwagą i prawidłową masą ciała. Materiał i metody: Niniejsze badanie przekrojowe przeprowadzono w grupie 962 losowo wybranych dzieci w wieku 6-18 lat. Badani zostali podzieleni według wskaźnika masy ciała (BMI) na trzy grupy: o prawidłowej masie ciała, z nadwagą i na grupę dzieci otyłych. W przypadku każdego uczestnika wypełniano kwestionariusz zawierający charakterystykę demograficzną i antropometryczną. U wszystkich uczestników dla wykrycia SFL wykonywano badanie ultrasonograficzne przeprowadzane przez radiologa, który nie znał BMI badanych. Częstość SFL ustalano na podstawie ultrasonograficznych kryteriów diagnostycznych. Wyniki: Średni wiek dzieci uczestniczących w badaniu wynosił 12,59 ± 3,25 roku. Średnie wymiary pionowe wątroby wynosiły: 111,36 ± 18,73, 121,18 ± 16,63 i 118,21 ± 19,15 mm odpowiednio w grupach dzieci z prawidłową masą ciała, z nadwagą i otyłych. Częstość występowania SFL u dzieci otyłych wynosiła 54,4%, co było wartością istotnie wyższą w porównaniu z grupą dzieci z nadwagą (10,5%) i prawidłową masą ciała (1%). Według wyników tego badania nie było znamiennych różnic w częstości występowania SFL między płciami. Wnioski: Duży odsetek SFL wykrywanego u dzieci otyłych w tym badaniu sugeruje, że irańskie otyłe dzieci obciążone są ryzykiem wystąpienia zespołu metabolicznego. Co więcej, WHO określa Iran jako jeden z krajów o dużym odsetku dzieci otyłych. Opierając się na tych informacjach, można wysunąć wniosek, że częstość występowania zespołu metabolicznego i związanych z nim chorób niezakaźnych będzie się zwiększać w przyszłości. Dlatego konieczne jest opracowanie określonego planu dla kontroli problemu nadwagi, uwzględniającego nauczanie zdrowego stylu życia w szkołach, przedszkolach i środkach masowego przekazu

Učinak četiriju ljekovitih biljaka na proizvodnju, biokemijske pokazatelje u krvi i ilealnu mikrofloru u tovnih pilića.

This study was conducted with broilers to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation of four medicinal plants on the performance, blood lipids and microflora population in the ileum. Three hundred and thirty-six dayold Ross broiler chicks were used in a completely randomized study with 6 treatments and 4 replicates each. The diets were iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous and contained 15, 3, 2 and 2 g/kg of dried cumin, peppermint, yarrow and poley herbs, respectively. Two dietary treatments were considered the negative (containing no medicinal plant or antibiotic) and positive (containing Flavomycin at 0.4 g/kg) control groups. Flavomycin and peppermint supplementation to the diet increased the FI and BWG of the broiler chickens compared to the control (P<0.01). Dietary Flavomycin significantly increased body weight gain (BWG) in contrast to the other dietary treatments (P<0.05). Peppermint and cumin supplementation to the diet increased the BWG of the broiler chickens, whereas dietary poley and yarrow significantly reduced the BWG and increased feed conversion ratio (FCR) when compared with broilers fed the negative control diet (P<0.05). Dietary Flavomycin and peppermint increased the concentration of triglycerides (TG), low density lipoprotein (LDL) and total cholesterol in serum (P<0.05). Addition of Flavomycin or peppermint to the diet significantly reduced the ileal Bifidobacteria and Clostridia (P<0.05). In conclusion, under the conditions of this study, peppermint improved growth performance and adding it to the diet could be an alternative to the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in poultry production.Istraživanje je poduzeto s ciljem da se procijene učinci dodatka u hranu četiriju biljaka od medicinskog značenja na proizvodnju, sadržaj lipida u krvi i mikrofloru u ileumu. U pokus je bilo uzeto 336 jednodnevnih tovnih pilića linije Ross, nasumce raspoređenih, od kojih je svaki prošao šest tretmana s četiri ponavljanja. Hrana je bila jednake kalorične vrijednosti i dušičnog sastava, a sadržavala je 15 g/kg suhog kumina, 3 g/kg peperminta, 2 g/kg stolisnika i 2 g/kg biljke dubačac. Dva pripravka hrane smatrana su negativnima (nisusadržavala ljekovito bilje ili antibiotike) i pozitivnima (sadržavali su flavomicin 0,4 g/kg). Dodatak flavomicina i peperminta hrani povećao je unos hrane i prirast tjelesne mase tovnih pilića u usporedbi s kontrolom (P<0,01). Dodatak flavomicina značajno je povećao prirast tjelesne mase u odnosu na dodatak drugih biljaka (P<0,05). Dodatkom peperminta i kumina u hranu također se povećala tjelesna masa tovnih pilića, dok su dubačac i stolisnik značajno smanjili tjelesnu masu i povećali omjer konverzije hrane u usporedbi s kontrolnim pilićima (P<0,05). Flavocin i pepermint u hrani povećali su koncentraciju triglicerida, lipoproteina niske gustoće i ukupnog kolesterola u serumu (P<0,05). Dodavanje flavocina ili peperminta u hranu, značajno je smanjilo količinu ilealnih Bifidobacteria i Clostridia (P<0,05). Može se zaključiti da je pepermint pojačao rast tovnih pilića te da njegovo dodavanje hrani može biti zamjena za antibiotike kao promotore rasta u proizvodnji peradi

Survey the Relationship Between Attachment Style and General Self Efficacy with Homesickness Among College Students

AbstractGoal: study of effective factors on the Homesickness of college students is the one of important discussion in psychology and the extent domains of it. Then the goal of this research was to investigate the relation between Attachment Style and General Self Efficacy with Homesickness. Method: to this end, a clustered multistage random sampling of 150 students was selected and implemented the Homesickness questionnaire, Attachment style questionnaire and General Self Efficacy questionnaire. The gathered data were analyzed through stepwise regression and Pearson correlation by Spss software. Finding: the results indicated that significant correlation observed between factors. Between General Self Efficacy and Homesickness(r=-0.55 p<0.001), between Secure Attachment Style and Homesickness (r=-0.51 p<0.001), and between Anxious Attachment Style and Homesickness (r=0.48 p<0.001). Stepwise regression analyze indicated that Secure and Anxious Attachment Style and Genera self efficacy could predicate Homesickness. Result: the finding of present study on the whole, suggest that self efficacy and secure internal working model training and for new arrived college students could prevent of homesickness

Design and Application of Hybrid Cyclic-Linear Peptide-Doxorubicin Conjugates as a Strategy to Overcome Doxorubicin Resistance and Toxicity

Doxorubicin (Dox) is used for breast cancer, leukemia, and lymphoma treatment as an effective chemotherapeutic agent. However, Dox use is restricted due to inherent and acquired resistance and an 8-fold increase in the risk of potentially fatal cardiotoxicity. Hybrid cyclic-linear peptide [R5K]W7A and linear peptide R5KW7A were conjugated with Dox through a glutarate linker to afford [R5K]W7A-Dox and R5KW7A-Dox conjugates to generate Dox derivatives. Alternatively, [R5K]W7C was conjugated with Dox via a disulfide linker to generate [R5K]W7C–S–S-Dox conjugate, where S–S is a disulfide bond. Comparative antiproliferative assays between conjugates [R5K]W7A-Dox, [R5K]W7C–S–S-Dox, linear R5KW7A-Dox, the corresponding physical mixtures of the peptides, and Dox were performed in normal and cancer cells. [R5K]W7A-Dox conjugate was 2-fold more efficient than R5KW7A-Dox, and [R5K]W7C–S–S-Dox conjugates in inhibiting the cell proliferation of human leukemia cells (CCRF-CEM). Therefore, hybrid cyclic-linear [R5K]W7A-Dox conjugate was selected for further studies and inhibited the cell viability of CCRF-CEM (84%), ovarian adenocarcinoma (SK-OV-3, 39%), and gastric carcinoma (AGS, 73%) at a concentration of 5 μM after 72 h of incubation, which was comparable to Dox (5 μM) efficacy (CCRF-CEM (85%), SK-OV-3 (33%), and AGS (87%)). While [R5K]W7A-Dox had a significant effect on the viability of cancer cells, it exhibited minimal cytotoxicity to normal kidney (LLC-PK1, 5–7%) and heart cells (H9C2, \u3c9%) at concentrations of 5–10 μM (compared to free Dox at 5 μM that reduced the viability of kidney and heart cells by 85% and 44%, respectively). The fluorescence microscopy images were consistent with the cytotoxicity studies, indicating minimal uptake of the cyclic-linear [R5K]W7A-Dox (5 μM) in H9C2 cells. In comparison, Dox (5 μM) showed significant uptake, reduced cell viability, and changed the morphology of the cells after 24 h. [R5K]W7A-Dox showed 16-fold and 9.5-fold higher activity against Dox-resistant cells MDA231R and MES-SA/MX2 (lethal dose for 50% cell death or LC50 of 2.3 and 4.3 μM, respectively) compared to free Dox (LC50 of 36–41 μM, respectively). These data, along with the results obtained from the cell viability tests, indicate comparable efficiency of [R5K]W7A-Dox to free Dox in leukemia, ovarian, and gastric cancer cells, significantly reduced toxicity in normal kidney LLC-PK1 and heart H9C2 cells, and significantly higher efficiency in Dox-resistant cells. A number of endocytosis inhibitors did not affect the cellular uptake of [R5K]W7A-Dox