Preparation and Characterization of Rubberwood Fiber- Polypropylene Composites

In this study, blending of rubberwood fiber with polypropylene and the effects of EBNR (ethylene-butene copolymer) as the compatibilizer, on the mechanical and thermal properties of rubber wood fiber, polypropylene composites were investigated by using FTIR, TGA, DMA and SEM. Composites were prepared at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 % by weight of fiber. Different fiber loadings, durations, temperatures, and rotation speeds process were tested to determine the optimum condition of blending. Consequently, the composite with 40% fiber loading, temperature at 175 °C, for 15 min and rotation speed of 40 rpm were selected to be the best composite. Mechanical tests including tensile, flexural and impact strength (notched and unnotched) were performed. In addition, water absorption study was carried out. The properties of composite without elastomer showed the reduction in tensile strength and impact strength (notched and unnotched) with increase in fiber loading, however the increase in tensile modulus, flexural strength and modulus of the composite was observed. The presence of EBNR in all loadings led to reduction in tensile and flexural strength and increased the impact strength. With attention to all aspects, the composite with 10% EBNR loading showed the best mechanical and physical properties. With the increased of fiber loading, the water absorption was also increased, and the addition of EBNR led to less water absorption, and the lowest absorption was observed for 10% EBNR loading. The result from FTIR analysis indicated that the interaction is only physical between components of the composite. The presence of EBNR on the composite made a weak improvement in thermal stability as shown by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). DMA studies established that EBNR led to reduction of stiffness and enhancing mobility of the resulting composite. SEM micrographs gave clear indication of the effect of EBNR in reduction of void sizes and numbers, and close interaction of PP and fiber was clearly demonstrated for composite with elastomer

Development of an ISO9001:2000 Self-Assessment Tool for Use in ISO-Certified Manufacturing Companies

Measuring and computing the maturity of the Quality Management System (QMS) is one of the most important requirements in ISO 9001:2000. Many organizations have not found any accurate and unique approach to QMS maturity assessment. Considering this fact, the ISO has never issued any self assessment model. However, some ISO certified organizations have to apply the award models. Some of certified organizations have even become compelled to change one of the award models according to their needs. Nevertheless, in applying it, this approach has caused many difficulties for them. The main objective of this research was developing a proper self-assessment tool in accordance with the ISO9001:2000 requirements. The process of developing a self-assessment tool was carried out in three stages. In the first stage, the framework of the tool was developed, while it was compiled according to the ISO requirements in the second stage. This tool was formed by eight principles, 33 criterions and 300 indicators. Each principle was organized into many criteria and indicators, which provided necessary situation for judgment. Audit team investigated the effectiveness, efficiency and suitability of their QMS using the present tool. The third stage allocated tool verification and validation. Verification was performed by comparing the requirements of ISO and the content of the tool and expert’s views. Meanwhile the validation was carried out by pilot test and case study. A certification body and two consulting services companies studied the tool and offered their opinions; whereas, eight volunteered ISO certified manufacturing companies applied the tool to assess and test it in the real environment. The data obtained from the case studies and the investigations by the experts were analyzed. The results showed that, the developed self-assessment tool could be used to investigate the QMS maturity of the organizations

Chronic exposure to chlorophenol related compounds in production workplace and kidney cancer: A meta-analysis

Background and Aims: Chlorophenols are a group of pesticides contaminated with dioxin compounds during their manufacturing. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) demonstrated an association between dioxin exposure and lung cancer, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and soft-tissue sarcoma but the risk of kidney cancer and dioxin exposure has not been clearly defined. This study was proposed a meta-analysis of published researches to evaluate relationship between chronic chlorophenols exposure in pesticide production workplace and the mortality risk of kidney cancer.Materials and Methods:″chlorophenol″, ″Phenoxyacetic acid″ ,″cancer″ and ″dioxin″ keywords were used in PubMed, Embase, Science Direct, Ovid, Google Scholar, and Medline until 2012 and all publications that investigated the association between chroniccholophenols exposure in the production workplace and kidney cancer were identified. Publication bias was evaluated based on Egger test and funnel plot. We evaluated the heterogeneity of the studies with Q test. Random-effects model of DerSimonian Laird method was conducted in heterogenic studies, otherwise fixed-effects model based on Mentel-Henzel random-effects model was used.Results: Our search yielded 27 papers which investigated the association between chronic cholophenols exposure in the production workplace and cancer. After reviewing these papers 7 publications without overlapping represented standardized mortality rate (SMR) of kidney cancer. Results of metaanalysis showed that SMR for kidney cancer in workers with cholophenols exposure was increased (SMR: 1.25 ,95% CI: 0.9- 1.63, p = 0.09).Conclusions: The results of this study strengthen the evidence of cancer in occupational exposure to cholophenols contaminated with TCDD. Moreover, these compounds increased the risk of death from kidney cancer which was related to the type of cholophenols compound and dioxine contamination.Key words: Chlorophenol, Dioxine, Meta-Analysis, Kidney Cancer

Using 360-degree multi-source feedback to evaluate professionalism in surgery departments: an Iranian perspective

Background: Medical professionalism helps physicians adopt a proper and good healing action for the patients based on their particular circumstance. This study was conducted to assess professionalism in surgical residents, using a 360-degree evaluation technique in several teaching hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Methods: This study was conducted on all the second and third year surgery residents from three university teaching hospitals in Tehran. Multi-source feedback questionnaire contained 10 questions on the residents’ professional behavior and was completed by the faculty and staff members (nurses, operation room staff, and medical assistants) as well as other surgery residents, interns and patients to evaluate each resident. Response rates were used to determine feasibility for each of the respondent groups and the mean and standard deviation score for each question was computed to determine the viability of the items. Reliability was assessed using alpha Cronbach coefficient for each respondent group. The correlation between these scores and the residents’ final and OSCE grade was also assessed. Results: The internal consistency reliability for 360-degree rating was 0.889. There was no significant difference in the residents’ score in different hospitals. While male residents obtained higher total score, there was no significant difference between them. The residents, however, obtained lower scores compared to the staff. The highest score was recorded for question 6, suggesting that the residents treated the patients regardless of their socioeconomic status. Conclusion: This study revealed a strong agreement between the results gathered from different respondents, confirming the reliability of the questionnaire and the respondents’ unbiased response. It also revealed that the residents did well in the whole test, showing they were conscientious and learning to become medical professionals

Effects of social media on diffusion of responsibility in crowdfunding

One of the growing industries in today's world is the crowdfunding industry. Crowdfunding can be considered as a collaborative social media. Since the early stages of its development, crowdfunding has made use of social media as a way of attracting more people to fund projects. Therefore, there have been many studies on the effect of social media on crowdfunding campaigns and how these campaigns can benefit from using features provided by social media websites. One of the unique characteristics of crowdfunding is a trait called ``Diffusion of Responsibility''. This happens when there is a decrease in a person's tendency of helping others in presence of other people. What we want to do in this study is to see how much diffusion of responsibility actually exists and whether it can be affected by the features unique to the social media websites. In this study we are particularly interested in examining the effects of Facebook on the diffusion of responsibility effect observed in crowdfunding. Previous research on the diffusion of responsibility effect shows that potential backers may be demotivated to fund a project when it has reached a high level of funding. There is, however, a lack of research on whether tie-strength between the backers may moderate the diffusion of responsibility effect. To study this, we designed an interface to examine how the level of existing support may interact with the strength of relationships to impact people's attention to a project and their decision to fund. Results will have important implication to campaign strategies in crowdfunding

Short time effect of cadmium on juveniles and adults of Java medaka (Oryzias javanicus) fish as a bioindicator for ecotoxicological studies

Acute toxicity of cadmium (Cd) on Java medaka (Oryzias javanicus) fish was studied. To obtain the results, the experiments were carried out in 3-liter aquariums (15-20 fish for each aquarium) with static condition based on O.E.C.D method with 5 treatments, and 1 blank in two repetitions. During the experiment, water physico- chemical parameters were pH = 7.7 to 7.9, salinity = 19.3 to 19.7 ppt, temperature = 29.1 to 30.8˚C and conductivity = 13.54 to 13.94 mS/m. On the basis of obtained results, the LC50-96 h for Cd were determined 6.02 (5.83 to 6.21) mg/L for juveniles and 6.63 (6.31 to 6.95) mg/L for adults, respectively. Also, the MAC (maximum allowable concentration) values for Cd on Oryzias javanicus juveniles and adults were determined at 0.60 mg/l for juveniles and 0.63 mg/l for adults. These results will be helpful for future ecotoxicology studies based on heavy metals pollution in estuary areas

Breeding waterbird populations of the islands of the Northern Persian Gulf, Iran.

In 2010, we estimated the breeding waterbird popula tions on the uninhabited islands of the northern Persian Gulf, some of the most important waterbird nesting sites in Southwest Asia. We also compared the 2010 census results with data from the 1970s. Over 120,000 breeding pairs of waterbirds of nine species were estimated on seven islands in 2010. The most abundant species were Bridled Tern Sterna anaethetus (74,113 pairs) and Lesser Crested Tern Sterna bengalensis (30,799 pairs). The results indicated that 20% of the global population of Crab Plover Dromas ardeola breed in the northern part of the Persian Gulf. The breeding population of White Cheeked Terns Sterna repressa had decreased by about 98% since the 1970s, while the populations of all the other species had increased. Further monitoring of the breeding waterbirds is needed in order to suggest appropriate measures for the conservation of these important waterbird populations. Compared with the situation in the 1970s, some islands are no longer suitable as nestingsites for waterbirds because of human exploitation, occupation by the military and development for the oil and gas industries

Dietary segregation between breeding tern species on the Persian Gulf islands, Iran

The dietary compositions of the three most abundant tern species breeding on Nakhilu and Omol-Karam Islands in the Persian Gulf were investigated to determine the dietary segregation between sympatric breeders. Chick dietary samples were collected from Bridled Tern (Sterna anaethetus), Lesser Crested Tern (S. bengalensis) and Swift Tern (S. bergii) in the 2010 and 2011 breeding seasons. Fish prey dominated the diet of the community (99% of prey consumed), although shrimps (primarily the Green Tiger prawn (Penaeus semisulcatus) were present in the food samples from Lesser Crested and Swift tern chicks. Regurgitates of Bridled Tern contained on average 12.48 ± 1.13 prey items (Range = 3–30, n = 31), Lesser Crested Tern contained 1.14 ± 0.01 (Range = 1–6, n = 365) and Swift Tern contained 1.08 ± 0.01 (Range = 1–4, n = 132). Pianka Overlap Index (Ojk) in food type was highest between Lesser Crested Tern and Swift Tern (0.98), while there was less similarity between Bridled Tern and Lesser Crested Tern (0.21) and Bridled Tern and Swift Tern (0.16) prey items. The results showed significant difference between the prey selected among the three tern species studied here in weight and length. Prey length and weight increased from 1–2-week-old chicks to 5–6-week-old chicks in both the Lesser Crested and Swift terns. Although there is high dietary overlap in Lesser Crested and Swift terns, they are segregated in terms of prey size, which likely reduces competition for prey. Although, there was some overlap between the diets of the three tern species, diet segregation on the basis of prey species and prey size are the main factors that should contribute to reduced competitive interactions for food resources