Energy of Stable Half-Quantum Vortex in Equal-Spin-Pairing

In the triplet equal-spin-pairing states of both 3He-A phase and Sr2RuO4 superconductor, existence of Half-Quantum Vortices HQVs are possible. The vortices carry half-integer multiples of magnetic quantum flux (hc/2e). To obtain equilibrium condition for such systems, one has to take into account not only weak interaction energy but also effects of Landau Fermi liquid. Our method is based on the explanation of the HQV in terms of a BCS-like wave function with a spin-dependent boots. We have considered l=2 order effects of the Landau Fermi liquid. We have shown that the effects of Landau Fermi liquid interaction with l=2 are negligible. In stable HQV, an effective Zeeman field exists. In the thermodynamic stability state, the effective Zeeman field produces a non-zero spin polarization in addition to the polarization of external magnetic field

Prevalence of Allergic diseases in Mayan Population of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala: a cross-sectional pilot study

Background This cross-sectional pilot study aimed to assess the prevalence of allergic symptoms in the hard-to-reach indigenous population of the Sololá region in Guatemala. Methods A total of 292 participants were enrolled, with an average age of 32 years (ranging from 14 to 77 years old). The study gathered data on symptoms of nasal and skin allergies and background characteristics through a standardized questionnaire, and skin prick tests (SPT) including the allergens, i.e., timothy grass (Phleum pratense), cat (Felis catus), ragweed (Ambrosia), mites (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus), and cockroach (Blattodea) allergens were performed in a subsample (n=91). Results The study revealed that symptoms of nasal and skin allergies were relatively rare, with hay fever (5%), nasal allergies (5%), eczema (8%) and itchy rashes (10%) being the most prevalent allergic diseases. Moreover, the results showed negative SPT for ragweed and house dust mite allergens, with low frequency of SPT positivity observed for timothy grass (8%), cat (2%), and cockroach (1%) allergens. Conclusions The study provides important insights into the prevalence of allergic symptoms and skin prick test positivity in a difficult-to-reach and not previously investigated indigenous population of the Sololá region in Guatemala. It appears the occurrence of allergic symptoms are rare in this population. Furthermore, this pilot study indicates that conducting interviews and SPTs in this population is feasible.M.Phil. in Global Health - ThesisINTH395AMAMD-GLO

Placental hypervascularity does not cause perinatal brain injury

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. Poster presentation to the American Federation for Medical Research Eastern Regional Meeting, April 26-27, 2011, Washington, DC. Cite as: Journal of Investigative Medicine 59 (2011): 636Dizygotic twins at 38 weeks with separate placentas: twin A, a 2479 gram female, was healthy after vaginal delivery. Five minutes later when the amnion of twin B was ruptured artificially, the cord prolapsed and could not be repositioned. Some 25 minutes later a 2791 gram male was delivered by section. Brain injury was noted soon afterward and subsequent development was marked by severe cerebral palsy and mental retardation. Initial diagnosis of twin B's placenta was 'chorangiosis,' overlooking fresh thrombi blocking the umbilical vein and one umbilical artery. Subsequent assessment revealed the same change in twin A's placenta. Archival records had 18/500 (3.6%) stillborns and 17/418 (4.07%) newborns with central placental hypervascularity. Of 125 recent consult placentas there were 17/100 singleton and 11/25 (44%) twin placentas displaying this change. Of 229 section deliveries there were 0/42 stillborns and 5/187 newborns with this vascular pattern. Another set of 625 autopsies revealed none with both hypoxic encephalopathy and this placental finding. This structural change is the same often seen in placentas from high altitude such as in Denver. Cerebral palsy occurs less often in Colorado than in other American states, per epidemiological data

Comparing the Effectiveness of Cognitive Analytic and Cognitive Behavioral Psychodrama Group Therapy on Interpersonal Problems and Emotional Regulation Difficulties in Divorced Women

Introduction: The aim of the current study was to compare the effectiveness of cognitive-analytic and cognitive-behavioral psychodrama group therapy on reducing the interpersonal problems and difficulty of emotion regulation in divorced women.Methods: This research was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The statistical population of the present study included all divorced women who had referred to private counseling centers under the supervision of welfare organization in Mashhad (84 centers) in 2018. Among the statistical population, by convenient sampling method, 36 people who met the inclusion criteria were selected and randomly located into three groups: Experiment 1,2 and Control. Experiment 1 group participated in sixteen 120-minute sessions of cognitive analytic group therapy and experimental group 2 participated in sixteen 120-minute sessions of cognitive-behavioral psychodrama group therapy. The 60-item Interpersonal Problems Questionnaire (IIP-60) by Horowitz et al, and the Gretz and Roemer Difficulty of Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) were used to collect data. Data analysis of the present study was performed using Mixed ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc test by SPSS software version 20.Results: The results indicated that both cognitive-analytic and cognitive behavioral psychodrama group therapies were able to significantly reduce the interpersonal problems and difficulty of emotion regulation of divorced women (p<0.01), in addition, cognitive-behavioral psychodrama group therapy had a greater effect than cognitive analytic group therapy on reducing interpersonal problems and difficulty of emotion regulation.Conclusion: Therefore, according to the obtained results, cognitive-behavioral psychodrama group therapy and cognitive-analytic group therapy can be used in order to reduce interpersonal problems and the difficulty of emotion regulation in divorced women

Barriers for Individuals with Prediabetes from Enrolling in the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program

Introduction: This qualitative research study examined barriers to enrollment in YMCA of Greater Seattle’s Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) and how to improve the enrollment and referral process. Methodology: This was a quality improvement project that used qualitative methods in the research design. Semi-structured interviews and open-ended questionnaires were used to explore barriers in enrollment and to improve the referral and enrollment process from the perspective of participants with prediabetes referred to the DPP, YMCA staff who facilitate the DPP, and primary care providers who referred participant to the DPP. Results: A total of 10 interviews were conducted with the participants between the ages of 32-78 (P1-P10) who declined enrollment to the DPP. The cohort of participants were African heritage (n=6) , Asian (n=1) and White (n=3). There were a total of 8 women and two men. Five main themes resulted from the thematic analysis: 1) cost, 2) gap in communication, 3) time constraint, 4) adequate knowledge, and 5) program format. Three YMCA staff and one provider expressed similar barriers based on their perspectives. In addition, the referral process can be improved through a more thorough explanation of the DPP to eligible participants and reducing or covering the DPP cost. Conclusion: Better referral management, shared decision-making, and financial assistance seem to be the underpinning elements for the success of the participants’ enrollment into the DPP

Job satisfaction and job performance in the media industry: A synergistic application of partial least squares path modelling

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between job satisfaction and employee performance in the media industry as well as the role of demographic variables, namely, age, gender, income, marital status, and the level of education as categorical moderators on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 220 valid questionnaires were collected from employees in the Malaysian media industry to examine the goodness of model fit, sign indeterminacy, measurement model, and structural relationships between constructs. Using partial least squares (PLS) path modelling, this study introduces a full-fledged structural equation modelling approach by applying ADANCO 1.1 advanced composite modelling and SmartPLS 3.2.3. PLS-multi-group analysis is applied to examine the heterogeneity of data and test the hypotheses on moderating variables. Findings – Payment, promotion, supervision, operating conditions, co-workers, and nature of the work were found to be conducive to employees’ job performance, among which co-workers generated the highest path coefficient followed by operating conditions, payment, and promotion. Hypotheses on the relationships between fringe benefits, contingent rewards, communication, and job performance were rejected. Age, gender, and level of education were found as moderators to the relationship between facets of job satisfaction and employees’ job performance. Practical implications – The results of importance performance map analysis can help managers and decision makers to prioritize their actions. The findings show that co-workers and operating conditions have the highest importance and payment and contingent rewards have the highest performance on job performance in the media industry. Originality/value – This study is among the few that investigates the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance in the media industry by considering demographic factors as the moderating variables. This study also contributes methodologically through the introduction of a synergistic PLS approach

Online Epileptic Seizure Prediction Using Phase Synchronization and Two Time Characteristics: SOP and SPH

Background: The successful prediction of epileptic seizures will significantly improve the living conditions of patients with refractory epilepsy. A proper warning impending seizure system should be resulted not only in high accuracy and low false-positive alarms but also in suitable prediction time.Methods: In this research, the mean phase coherence index used as a reliable indicator for identifying the preictal period of the 14-patient Freiburg EEG dataset. In order to predict the seizures on-line, an adaptive Neuro-fuzzy model named ENFM (evolving neuro-fuzzy model) was used to classify the extracted features. The ENFM trained by a new class labeling method based on the temporal properties of a prediction characterized by two time intervals, seizure prediction horizon (SPH), and seizure occurrence period (SOP), which subsequently applied in the evaluation method. It is evident that an increase in the duration of the SPH can be more useful for the subject in preventing the irreparable consequences of the seizure, and provides adequate time to deal with the seizure. Also, a reduction in duration of the SOP can reduce the patient’s stress in the SOP interval. In this study, the optimal SOP and SPH obtained for each patient using Mamdani fuzzy inference system considering sensitivity, false-positive rate (FPR), and the two mentioned points, which generally ignored in most studies.Results: The results showed that last seizure, as well as 14-hour interictal period of each patient, were predicted on-line without false negative alarms: the average yielding of sensitivity by 100%, the average FPR by 0.13 per hour and the average prediction time by 30 minutes.Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, such a data-labeling method for ENFM showed promising seizure prediction for online machine learning using epileptic seizure data. Apart from that, the proposed fuzzy system can consider as an evaluation method for comparing the results of studies

Effectiveness of group counseling based on schema therapy approach in the attachment styles of married housewives

Attachment theory regards human as social beings that possess the amazing capacity for communicating with others. What’s more, enjoying intimate and intense relationship and affective attachment with significant others like parents, spouse, children is amongst the most crucial human needs. Hence, the research purpose is to carry out an investigation into the effectiveness of group counseling employing schema therapy approach in the attachment styles of married housewives. The research employs a semi-experimental method with two groups (control and experimental group) with pre-test, posttest and follow-up (one month) design. The sample was selected through multi-stage sampling. The attachment questionnaire was administered on all the women in the health house and those who had developed insecure-anxious and insecure-avoidant styles were identified and attended the interview, out of which a sample of 24 individuals was selected and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. In the pre-test stage the Revised Adult Attachment Scale was administered on the subjects who underwent eight 90-minute sessions of group counseling based on the schema therapy approach. The control group didn’t receive any training. In the posttest stage the Revised Adult Attachment Scale was administered on both groups and one month later on the experimental group. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage and mean) and inferential statistics (covariance and t-test). Results confirmed the hypotheses of the research and indicated that group counseling based on the schema therapy approach was effective in the attachment styles of married housewives and changed their attachment styles into the secure one. The results proved to be relatively stable. With regard to the research results, it can be concluded that group counseling based on schema therapy can be used as an effective interventional method in altering the attachment styles specifically in married housewives

Comparison of Resistance and Persistence Ideas in the Poetry of Khalil Matran and Shafiei Kadkani

1. Introduction Resistance and persistence poetry aims to express social problems and apply humanization in the literature. It aims to clarify undesirable conditions in terms of social and political problems and anomalies. Khalil Matran and Shafiei Kadkani are two well-known contemporary Arab and Persian poets, whose poetry is imbued with considerable and valuable concepts of resistance and protest. This study makes an attempt to compare resistance and persistence ideas in the poetry of these two poets, to determine their similarities and differences, and to determine how the same conditions in the two geographical areas have contributed to the thought unity of the two poets. The results of the analysis revealed that, given the same political thoughts, Khalil Matran showed creativity in connecting the historical narratives with the contemporary conditions, while Shafiei Kadkani succeeded in creating and using symbolism in the resistance and persistence literature.   2. Methodology A comparative-descriptive method was used in this study to compare the lines of thought of the two poets. The data was collected from the book of poems of Khalil Matran and the book ‘A Mirror for Voices’ by Shafiei Kadkani. The random sampling method was used for this purpose. The comparative method was used to better understand the poetry of the two poets. This study aimed to determine the similarities, differences, methods of expression, and attitudes of the two poets in the two different time periods and with different languages but with the same idea of the fight tyranny.   3. Discussion The lack of freedom of expressing human concerns led Khalil Matran and Shafiei Kadkani to use the language of poetry to portrait the tyranny dominant in the Iranian and Egyptian societies. The chaotic social, political, and cultural circumstances of the Iranian society and the Arab societies and familiarity with the Western literature are among the most important common themes in the protest literature among Persian and Arab poets. Khalil Matran was a follower of Romanticism but he developed a tendency toward protest narrative poetry, given social and human concerns and expression of the idea of freedom. He was a freedom-fighter who lived under the dictatorship of Abdol-Hamid in Lebanon, during which time there were clashes among different religious sects. He was fully aware of the important events of the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century in the Arab countries (Hussein Mansour, 1977, p. 27). He was one of the first contemporary poets who introduced fictional and epic literature majestically into the Arabic literature and poetry. He succeeded in connecting material and spiritual matters in many of his stories and in adapting his method based on the requirements of a given story. He was a freedom-fighter who fought tyranny, submission, neglect, and backwardness. Shafiei Kadkani was a great Iranian poet who lived after the Constitutional Revolution. His poetry was mainly concerned with social matters. The suppressive political atmosphere at the time led Shafiei Kadkani to use symbolism in his poems to portrait social issues. His main mission was to spread awareness in the society. He obliged himself to represent social events, injustices, and voices of freedom-fighters and their murdering in his poetry. His main motifs include freedom-fighting, fighting for liberation of country, enlightenment, mourning the death of victims, and social criticism. His prolific mind reflected human thoughts differently by focusing on social problems, and such a reflection was his social criticism. Living under a dictatorship and human concerns have caused poets to express freedom-fighting thoughts. Khalil Matran fought tyranny, submission, neglect, and backwardness and played a major role in his people’s political awareness. Shafiei Kadkani was also aware of injustices and tyranny and suppression in his time period and zealously represented people’s suffering. The similarities in motifs between the two poets include encouraging to fighting, resistance and persistence, calling for awareness, commemorating fighters, condemning ignorance and unawareness, exalting freedom, and hoping for victory over tyranny. Khalil Matran speaks indirectly in his historical and political elegies and also makes use of historical and national elements of other countries. He lived in Egypt, hidden from the Ottomans, and their rulers and spies. He represented suffering of freedom-fighters caused by the dictatorship of Sultan Abdol-Hamid by using the historical tools and with reference to Khosro Anushiravan. Therefore, he wrote an elegy called ‘Murder of Bozorgmehr’ to state that how this Persian king ruled with absolute authority and how such ruling method directed him toward oppression and injustice (Zeif, 1707, p. 130). Shafiei Kadkani emphasized the necessity of resistance and persistence by using positive and negative symbols and by portraying the oppressed and oppressors such as the Tatar people, Genghis Khan, Siyavash, and Bijan. Khalil Matran was a freedom-seeking poet. He despised tyranny, oppression, and imperialism. He was fully aware of history. He portrayed the defeat of the Germans in the best way in The elegy ‘Iyana Battle.’ By portraying the doom of the Germans, he alluded to the situation of his own country fellows being oppressed by the Ottomans (Zeif, 1707, p. 129). Silence over oppression is also portrayed in different ways in Shafiei Kadkani’s poetry. He criticized the chaotic conditions of his society, in that why the people were indifferent to each other and felt no empathy for each other because of the tyranny over the society. Khalil Matran believed that people’s synergy and empathy, which results from their awakening to tyranny, leads the desirable end. To prove this claim, he referred to the year 1870. In that year, the Germans stood up for their dignity. After calling for the awakening of the society and shifting away from silence, Shafiei Kadkani referred to fighters who did not succumbed to tyranny, had enlightened thoughts, fought for their ideals, and had no fear of the coming events. Khalil Matran attributed the people’s contempt to ignorance, which was widely painful. He called for awakening, justice, and national and ethnic awareness and condemned oppression and oppressors. By narrating the history of Anushirvan, he called for awakening. Shafiei Kadkani criticized indifferent and neglectful people, who take no responsibility and seek a wrong peace in their ignorance and neglect. He described a silence and suppression, in which people choose to become neglectful instead of awakening and rising. Abdol-Hamid’s authoritarian regime fell in 1908. Then, Khalil Matran let out deep cries by writing the elegy ‘Freedom Greetings.’ Shafiei Kadkani’s social thought was mainly constituted by his efforts in fighting for the ideal of freedom. In his poetry, freedom is represented by such symbols as rain, spring, garden, and lightning. In the ideal attitude of Shafiei Kadkani, no force can prohibit freedom, which can be established freely everywhere. Khalil Matran did not call for rising against oppressors explicitly in none of his poems. He only tended to convey his messages implicitly and covertly. Despite tyranny and oppression, Shafiei Kadkani did not lose hope for freedom and victory. And despite suppression, he still wrote poems of freedom and did not lose hope for victory over oppressors.   4. Conclusion  In the comparative analysis of the two poets under study, it was found that they were influenced by the same cultural, social, and political conditions and performed their poetic duty. Khalil Matran’s contribution was to write elegies imbued with cries of anger and protest. By using allusions, he showed a prospect of repetition of the people’s ignorance and neglect. Therefore, he called for awakening, justice, and national awareness. The main feature of Shafiei Kadkani’s poetry is the use of symbolism. His poetry is free from sloganeering and political content, and the artistic use of natural elements makes its poetry more artistic and interpretable. The results of the comparative analysis of the protest poetries of Khalil Matran and Shafiei Kadkani revealed that these two poets played a similar role in awakening the people and fighting tyranny under the influence of the European literature, and that the suppressive atmospheres of the two societies and the lack of freedom of expression, the sense of responsibility, and social and human commitment caused them to use symbolism and narrative poetry. Both poets used an implicit language and similar themes and contents to criticize tyranny and performed their artistic missions in an appropriate manner for their audiences. Khalil Matran used the historical narratives of other countries and allusions to express his protest to tyranny. And Shafiei Kadkani succeeded in writing narrative protest poetry by using literary devices such as analogies, symbolism, and metaphors under the influence of natural elements. In sum, they were committed poets who did not remain silent over the socio-political events of their time periods and performed their social missions by their arts