The attitude of fishermen towards stock enhancement and influencing factors: A case study in Guilan Province of Iran

Decline in aquatic resource stocks, occurs for various reasons. Although regulations and measures have proven useful, they have failed to inhibit effectively the stock reduction trends. Iranian Fisheries Organization has carried out a great deal of investments and efforts concerning the enhancement of the Caspian Sea resource stocks through the restrictive regulations, and reproduction and release of various species such as bony fish and sturgeon. Nevertheless, reports of low catch of fish by fishermen and illegal fishing of even released fry have made serious concerns. Consequently, the existing approaches and practices have been questioned. However, resource management is facing a lack of proper understanding of society’s behaviors and attitudes towards the resource conservation and management. It is hard to study behavioral changes, but measuring of attitudes toward the natural resources conservation or enhancement, as well as the factors influencing the interest and commitment towards it, seems to be a prerequisite of any plan or program in that regard. The present study measures the fishermen’s attitude by means of Fishbein-Ajzen’s model as important and vital theory of behavior–attitude explanation. Variables such as evaluation of outcome, expectation of outcome or belief, satisfaction of and contribution in stock enhancement, as well as influenced factors including; personal characteristics, experience, amount of catch, and awareness were examined. In this descriptive analytical research, 180 samples out of the whole 5645 fishermen of the bony fish, in seven coastal towns of the Guilan Province, were interviewed through a questionnaire. The study showed a significant positive attitude toward stock enhancement with 95% confidence. They included fishermen who were literate, more informed, with higher catches, and also who were content with their occupation. However, there was no significant relation between the fishermen's attitude and other factors such as age, experience, and opinions about the restrictive measures

Irreducible decomposition for tensor prodect representations of Jordanian quantum algebras

Tensor products of irreducible representations of the Jordanian quantum algebras U_h(sl(2)) and U_h(su(1,1)) are considered. For both the highest weight finite dimensional representations of U_h(sl(2)) and lowest weight infinite dimensional ones of U_h(su(1,1)), it is shown that tensor product representations are reducible and that the decomposition rules to irreducible representations are exactly the same as those of corresponding Lie algebras.Comment: LaTeX, 14pages, no figur

Tensor Operators for Uh(sl(2))

Tensor operators for the Jordanian quantum algebra Uh(sl(2)) are considered. Some explicit examples of them, which are obtained in the boson or fermion realization, are given and their properties are studied. It is also shown that the Wigner-Eckart's theorem can be extended to Uh(sl(2)).Comment: 11pages, LaTeX, to be published in J. Phys.

Current status of and future opportunities for digital agriculture in Australia

In Australia, digital agriculture is considered immature and its adoption ad hoc, despite a relatively advanced technology innovation sector. In this review, we focus on the technical, governance and social factors of digital adoption that have created a disconnect between technology development and the end user community (farmers and their advisors). Using examples that reflect both successes and barriers in Australian agriculture, we first explore the current enabling technologies and processes, and then we highlight some of the key socio-technical factors that explain why digital agriculture is immature and ad hoc. Pronounced issues include fragmentation of the innovation system (and digital tools), and a lack of enabling legislation and policy to support technology deployment. To overcome such issues and increase adoption, clear value propositions for change are necessary. These value propositions are influenced by the perceptions and aspirations of individuals, the delivery of digitally-enabled processes and the supporting legislative, policy and educational structures, better use/conversion of data generated through technology applications to knowledge for supporting decision making, and the suitability of the technology. Agronomists and early adopter farmers will play a significant role in closing the technology-end user gap, and will need support and training from technology service providers, government bodies and peer-networks. Ultimately, practice change will only be achieved through mutual understanding, ownership and trust. This will occur when farmers and their advisors are an integral part of the entire digital innovation system

Wound healing properties and antimicrobial activity of platelet-derived biomaterials

We analyzed the potential antibacterial effects of two different PdB against methicillin-resistant S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. The third-degree burn wound healing effects of PdB was also studied. Blood samples were obtained from 10 healthy volunteers and biological assays of the PdB were performed and the antimicrobial activity against MRSA and P. aeruginosa was determined using disk diffusion (DD), broth microdilution (BMD), and time-kill assay methods. 48 Wistar albino rats were burned and infected with MRSA. Two groups were injected PdB, the control groups were treated with plasma and received no treatment respectively. In the next step, the rats were euthanized and skin biopsies were collected and histopathologic changes were examined. The results of DD and BMD showed that both PdB performed very well on MRSA, whereas P. aeruginosa was only inhibited by F-PdB and was less susceptible than MRSA to PdBs. The time-kill assay also showed that F-PdB has an antibacterial effect at 4 hours for two strains. Histopathological studies showed that the treated groups had less inflammatory cells and necrotic tissues. Our data suggest that PdB may possess a clinical utility as a novel topical antimicrobial and wound healing agent for infected burn wounds. © 2020, The Author(s)

Wound healing properties and antimicrobial activity of platelet-derived biomaterials

We analyzed the potential antibacterial effects of two different PdB against methicillin-resistant S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. The third-degree burn wound healing effects of PdB was also studied. Blood samples were obtained from 10 healthy volunteers and biological assays of the PdB were performed and the antimicrobial activity against MRSA and P. aeruginosa was determined using disk diffusion (DD), broth microdilution (BMD), and time-kill assay methods. 48 Wistar albino rats were burned and infected with MRSA. Two groups were injected PdB, the control groups were treated with plasma and received no treatment respectively. In the next step, the rats were euthanized and skin biopsies were collected and histopathologic changes were examined. The results of DD and BMD showed that both PdB performed very well on MRSA, whereas P. aeruginosa was only inhibited by F-PdB and was less susceptible than MRSA to PdBs. The time-kill assay also showed that F-PdB has an antibacterial effect at 4 hours for two strains. Histopathological studies showed that the treated groups had less inflammatory cells and necrotic tissues. Our data suggest that PdB may possess a clinical utility as a novel topical antimicrobial and wound healing agent for infected burn wounds. © 2020, The Author(s)

New time-type and space-type non-standard quantum algebras and discrete symmetries

Starting from the classical r-matrix of the non-standard (or Jordanian) quantum deformation of the sl(2,R) algebra, new triangular quantum deformations for the real Lie algebras so(2,2), so(3,1) and iso(2,1) are simultaneously constructed by using a graded contraction scheme; these are realized as deformations of conformal algebras of (1+1)-dimensional spacetimes. Time-type and space-type quantum algebras are considered according to the generator that remains primitive after deformation: either the time or the space translation, respectively. Furthermore by introducing differential-difference conformal realizations, these families of quantum algebras are shown to be the symmetry algebras of either a time or a space discretization of (1+1)-dimensional (wave and Laplace) equations on uniform lattices; the relationship with the known Lie symmetry approach to these discrete equations is established by means of twist maps.Comment: 17 pages, LaTe

A Projective Interpretation of Some Doubly Special Relativity Theories

A class of projective actions of the orthogonal group on the projective space is being studied. It is shown that the Fock--Lorentz, and Magueijo--Smolin transformations known as Doubly Special Relativity are such transformations. The formalism easily lead to new type transformations

Participating in university entrance exam despite repeated failure: a qualitative study of participants' experiences

Objectives: To explore the experiences of general practitioners who continue to sit a highly-competitive residency entrance examination, despite repeated failure. Methods: This qualitative, exploratory study employed semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 35 candidates of a residency entrance exam who had failed the examination at least twice and were preparing to sit it again. Interview questions addressed the challenges they faced and how they managed these challenges. Interview data were audiotaped, transcribed, and analysed to identify themes. Results: The results demonstrated that more than 50 (n=19) of candidates struggled continuously and internally with different aspects of the exam. These include being under a great deal of pressure to succeed, failing to prioritize study materials, inefficient review during the final days  of preparation, and sitting the exam with an afflicted body. Furthermore, during the examination, they frequently used inefficient strategies to answer questions. Afterwards, they experienced feelings of freedom associated with having finished the exam. Conclusions: Participation in a highly-competitive examination exerts a considerable amount pressure on low-performing candidates. This climate not only results in burn out of participants, but it also influences their learning styles and identities as future physicians. It is therefore necessary to design a syllabus for both test candidates and policy makers, in order better to manage this environment. Candidates also should be aware of their individual weaknesses in order to improve their studying skills

Boson representations, non-standard quantum algebras and contractions

A Gelfan'd--Dyson mapping is used to generate a one-boson realization for the non-standard quantum deformation of $sl(2,\R)$ which directly provides its infinite and finite dimensional irreducible representations. Tensor product decompositions are worked out for some examples. Relations between contraction methods and boson realizations are also explored in several contexts. So, a class of two-boson representations for the non-standard deformation of $sl(2,\R)$ is introduced and contracted to the non-standard quantum (1+1) Poincar\'e representations. Likewise, a quantum extended Hopf $sl(2,\R)$ algebra is constructed and the Jordanian $q$-oscillator algebra representations are obtained from it by means of another contraction procedure.Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX; two new references adde