QR-SACP: Quantitative Risk-based Situational Awareness Calculation and Projection through Threat Information Sharing

When a threat is observed, one of the most important challenges is to choose the most appropriate and adequate timely decisions in response to the current and near future situation in order to have the least consequences and costs. Making the appropriate and sufficient decisions requires knowing what situations the threat has engendered or may engender. In this paper, we propose a quantitative risk-based method called QR-SACP to calculate and project situational awareness in a network based on threat information sharing. In this method, we investigate a threat from different aspects and evaluate the threat's effects through dependency weight among a network's services. We calculate the definite effect of a threat on a service and the cascading propagation of the threat's definite effect on other dependent services to that service. In addition, we project the probability of a threat propagation or recurrence of the threat in other network services in three ways: procedurally, network connections and similar infrastructure or services. Experimental results demonstrate that the QR-SACP method can calculate and project definite and probable threats' effects across the entire network and reveal more details about the threat's current and near future situations.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figure

An Improved model for OKP product planning stage in a cloud-based design environment

Nowadays, in the software world, cloud computing has great importance. This massive network has reduced the cost of software for users, but has risen in revenue from manufacturers, the products of the one-of-a-kind (OKP) companies are cloud-based, and customers access the software through the cloud, In this architecture, the company places part of the software that is expensive and does not have the ability to buy for the cloud on cloud servers, and users can connect with the cloud to the cloud using this software, But since the number of users is greater than the number of servers, they must run a scheduling mechanism to execute requests, We present a timing system for OKP products in this paper, compared with two other methods, the simulation results show the superiority of the proposed method

A Corpus-driven Scoping Systematic Review of Four Decades of Teacher Professional Development Research: Exploring Research Foci, Content Areas, Designs Methods and Trends

This study represents the findings of a systematic review (SR) of literature in the teacher professional development (TPD) domain to outline the research patterns through content examination of 199 research articles (RAs) in the area of TPD over the previous 40 years (1982 -2021). RAs were investigated and their research content areas, utilized research methods, data collection procedures, and findings were analyzed and coded. The broad investigation of the RAs showed a wide variety of themes that corresponded to 22 research areas. TPD program effects, TPD & technology, and TPD & Sociolinguistics were the most searched content areas. It was also found that the qualitative method with 52.26% of occurrences appeared to be the dominant research method used in RAs. Exploring data collection procedures, it was uncovered that interview, questionnaire and observation were the main data collection strategies utilized within the TPD RAs. Analyzing the findings, changes in teacher practices, attitudes and knowledge, learner achievements, and determining priorities for TPD programs were the most reported findings in TPD RAs. This corpus-driven SR underpins the notion that TPD makes a difference in altering teachers’ practices and attitudes and improves learner abilities if specific characteristics are taken into account in the planning and administration of TPD programs

Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and its associated factors in patients with COVID-19

Background: The severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) attaches to the angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE-2) receptors for penetrating cells. Because these receptors are extensively distributed in the intestine, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may cause gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is known to increase the expression of ACE-2 receptors in the GI tract. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of H. pylori infection and its associated factors in patients with COVID-19.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted from February to December 2021. A total of 215 patients who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 infections using a real-time PCR test or a CT scan were included in the study. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test on serum samples was used to evaluate the presence of H. pylori.Results: All 215 positive patients for COVID-19 with a mean age of 59.72±17.23 were evaluated. Among them, 153 patients (71.2%) were H. pylori-positive. Moreover, H. pylori+/ COVID-19+ group showed higher mean age than H. pylori-/ COVID-19+ patients. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups of patients regarding their medical background, drug history, BMI, and disease severity. The prognosis of the patients was severely worse in the H. pylori+/ COVID-19+ than in H. pylori-/ COVID-19+ patients.Conclusion: Our study adds to the previous findings and provides evidence regarding the high prevalence of H. pylori in COVID-19 patients. These investigations could help us elucidate the relationship between H. pylori and respiratory system findings and better understand COVID-19

Kdr genotyping and the first report of V410L and V1016I kdr mutations in voltage-gated sodium channel gene in Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) from Iran

Background: Aedes aegypti is the main vector of arboviral diseases worldwide. The species invaded and became established in southern Iran in 2020. Insecticide-based interventions are primarily used for its control. With insecticide resistance widespread, knowledge of resistance mechanisms is vital for informed deployment of insecticidal interventions, but information from Iranian Ae. aegypti is lacking. Methods: Fifty-six Ae. aegypti specimens were collected from the port city of Bandar Lengeh in Hormozgan Province in the South of Iran in 2020 and screened for kdr mutations. The most common kdr mutations in Latin America and Asia (V410L, S989P, V1016G/I and F1534C), especially when present in combinations, are highly predictive of DDT and pyrethroid resistance were detected. Phylogenetic analyses based on the diversity of S989P and V1016G/I mutations were undertaken to assess the phylogeography of these kdr mutations. Results: Genotyping all four kdr positions of V410L, S989P, V1016G/I and F1534C revealed that only 16 out of the 56 (28.57%) specimens were homozygous wild type for all kdr mutation sites. Six haplotypes including VSVF (0.537), VSVC (0.107), LSVF (0.016), LSIF (0.071), VPGC (0.257) and LPGC (0.011) were detected in this study. For the first time, 11 specimens harbouring the V410L mutation, and 8 samples with V1016I mutation were found. V410L and V1016I were coincided in 8 specimens. Also, six specimens contained 1016G/I double mutation which was not reported before. Conclusions: The relatively high frequency of these kdr mutations in Iranian Ae. aegypti indicates a population exhibiting substantial resistance to pyrethroid insecticides, which are used widely in control operations and household formulations. The detection of the 410L/1016I kdr mutant haplotype in Iranian Ae. aegypti suggests possible convergence of invasive populations from West Africa or Latin America. However, as Iran has very limited maritime/air connections with those African countries, a Latin American origin for the invasive Ae. aegypti in Iran is more plausible

Fate of Radionuclides in Wastewater Treatment Plants

In the western United States and in many arid regions, wastewater reclamation isbecoming a common way of increasing water supplies. More and more wastewateris being reclaimed for non-potable uses such as irrigation, but indeed reclamationfor potable use is also being practiced. One of the concerns for wastewaterreclamation are the contaminants that are not removed by either the wastewater orwater treatment processes and this is especially for the case of case of potablereclamation. Radionuclides are rarely a concern in wastewater treatment andreclamation systems, but the recent accident at Fukushima has focused attention onthe spread of fission and decay byproduct across farmlands and into drinking watersystems. iiiIn addition, recent wildfires in the abundant territory around Chernobyl causedrelease of long-lived fission products to the atmosphere that had previously beensequestered in the terrestrial system. At this time there is only anecdotal dataavailable on the impact of the fires on the wastewater radioactivity but it is acontinuing issue.An important concern is the fate of radionuclides during wastewater reclamation. Informer times, it was assumed that reclamation activities will stop if there is acontamination problem, but with increasing reliance on reclamation, stopping it mayhave important and perhaps severe effects, including the loss of key industries thatuse reclaimed water such as petroleum refining. More importantly major cities,including Los Angeles, have aggressive programs for recycling 100% of itswastewater to become a main part of its water portfolio. Therefore, in the future anyunexpected interruption in the reclamation programs will have major impacts.In this dissertation previous observations of the radionuclides in wastewatertreatment plants are reviewed and summarized. As part of this research, a variety ofwastewater sludge samples were analyzed for radionuclides and results are presentedand fate and transport of two radionuclides, 131I and 40K are discussed in detail

Fate of Radionuclides in Wastewater Treatment Plants

In the western United States and in many arid regions, wastewater reclamation isbecoming a common way of increasing water supplies. More and more wastewateris being reclaimed for non-potable uses such as irrigation, but indeed reclamationfor potable use is also being practiced. One of the concerns for wastewaterreclamation are the contaminants that are not removed by either the wastewater orwater treatment processes and this is especially for the case of case of potablereclamation. Radionuclides are rarely a concern in wastewater treatment andreclamation systems, but the recent accident at Fukushima has focused attention onthe spread of fission and decay byproduct across farmlands and into drinking watersystems. iiiIn addition, recent wildfires in the abundant territory around Chernobyl causedrelease of long-lived fission products to the atmosphere that had previously beensequestered in the terrestrial system. At this time there is only anecdotal dataavailable on the impact of the fires on the wastewater radioactivity but it is acontinuing issue.An important concern is the fate of radionuclides during wastewater reclamation. Informer times, it was assumed that reclamation activities will stop if there is acontamination problem, but with increasing reliance on reclamation, stopping it mayhave important and perhaps severe effects, including the loss of key industries thatuse reclaimed water such as petroleum refining. More importantly major cities,including Los Angeles, have aggressive programs for recycling 100% of itswastewater to become a main part of its water portfolio. Therefore, in the future anyunexpected interruption in the reclamation programs will have major impacts.In this dissertation previous observations of the radionuclides in wastewatertreatment plants are reviewed and summarized. As part of this research, a variety ofwastewater sludge samples were analyzed for radionuclides and results are presentedand fate and transport of two radionuclides, 131I and 40K are discussed in detail

Fate of Radionuclides in Wastewater Treatment Plants

In the western United States and in many arid regions, wastewater reclamation is becoming a common way of increasing water supplies. More and more wastewater is being reclaimed for non-potable uses such as irrigation, but reclamation for potable use is also being practiced. One of the concerns for wastewater reclamation is the distribution of contaminants that are not removed by either the wastewater treatment plant or the water treatment plant in the case of potable reclamation. The recent accident at Fukushima has focused attention on the spread of fission and decay byproduct across farmlands and into drinking water systems. An important concern is the distribution of radionuclides by wastewater reclamation. In former times, it was assumed thatreclamation activities will stop if there is a contamination problem, but with increasing   ii reliance of reclamation, stopping reclamation may have important and perhaps severe effects, including the loss of key industries such as petroleum refining that use reclaimed water. This thesis is a review of the important radionuclides that may be produced from a fission accident or a spill, and their fate in a wastewater treatment plant. Since experimental approaches for studying this problem are not generally feasible, a review of all the documented occurrences of spills has been made. In some cases the fate of fallout from atmospheric testing has been observed and this also provides useful information. The overall goal is to develop the knowledge that will allow treatment plant operators to react quickly to an accident or spill and provide guidance for temporary or short term measures to mitigate the impacts

The Impact of First and Second Languages on Azerbaijani EFL Learners’ Writing Ability

There has always been a debate whether or not the learners’ first language (L1) can facilitate the process of learning foreign language. Since foreign language writing (FL) is a complicated process, it seems that the role of the learners’ L1 and its effect on FL writing is of great importance in this regard. The present study aimed at investigating the role of Azerbaijani EFL learners’ L1 and L2 (Persian) on their FL writing. To meet the purposes of the study, 30 female EFL upper-intermediate students were selected (through running an OPT), who were native speakers of Azerbaijani, with Persian as their L2 and official language of Iranian context. The data were collected through running three writing sessions (in which the participants wrote three essays in each session using Azerbaijani as L1, Persian as L2, and direct writing) using the think-aloud protocol, through which they were asked to report their thoughts loudly to record using a tape recorder. In addition, a survey was used to ask their perceptions towards each writing task. The analysis of the data obtained from the evaluation of learners’ writings indicated that the mere use of their L1 or L2 in foreign language writing was by no means helpful for them and they performed better on direct writing task in comparison with the two other ones. It was also found that the majority of the learners (70%) had difficulty in generating their ideas using Azerbaijani as their L1. In addition, nearly 77% of them claimed that even in direct writing mode, they made use of their L2 (Persian) on the occasions they could not find a proper word or phrase in English. As the implications of the study, it seems that the present study can bring helpful insights for both FL teachers and learners about the roles that Azerbaijani and Persian languages play as the students’ L1 and L2 in FL writing. Keywords: Writing ability, first language, second language, foreign languag

Scientific mapping of Iranian Inventor’s Patent Database(IPD) during1970-2014

Patents, one of the important outputs of science and technology, have a tremendous role in wealth creation from knowledge and knowledge-Based economy. Patents are important indicators of determining the rate of a country progress in creativity development. This study, using scientometrics, identifies core inventors and highly cited (hot) inventions, and investigates the level of co-operation of Iranian inventors with other Iranian and non-Iranian co-operators in international patent databases, including United States Patent and Trademarks (USPT), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), European Patent Office (EPO) and Japanese Patent Office (JPO), between 1970 and 2014. Microsoft Excel has been utilized to analyze the data. Also, Gephi software (8.2 edition) is used in order to depict the related scientific maps. The results of the research showed that the average of all Iranian invention registration in international databases has been 10.8 % per year. The most number and the most cited of inventions are in human necessities categories (agriculture, food stuffs, hygiene, and recreation). Besides, the least number and the least cited inventions are in paper and textiles category. All in all, 1054 Iranian inventors with foreign counterparts have had cooperated to register 475 patents, in which Iranian contribution rate has been 2.2%. The results also indicated that, the invention growth rate in international database had been rising in such a way that in 2014 the most number of inventions had been registered. Additionally, the inventions had been founded on the most prominent necessities of human being