The marathoner not yet at the finish line: Nuruddin Farah in Rome

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Effect of water stress, chemical and organic fertilizers on yield and yield components of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.)

To improve crop productivity under water stress conditions, understanding the interaction between fertilizers and water stress is very important for the proper management of fertilizers consumption. The present study was aimed at investigating the impact of water stress, and chemical and organic fertilizers on yield and yield components of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.). The experiment was carried out in Ferdows, Iran in 2015 in the form of split plots based on a randomized complete block design. 50% and 80% of water requirements were allocated to the main plots. Five kinds of fertilizers including organic fertilizer before planting (F1), foliar application of Macromix Gold organic fertilizer (F2), NPK chemical fertilizer before planting (F3), and foliar application of NPK chemical fertilizer after planting (F4), and no fertilizer (control, F5) were allocated to subplots. Results indicate that in conditions of 80% water requirement, fertilizer treatments of F2 and F4, and in conditions of 50% water requirement, fertilizer treatment F4 had the highest percentage of essential oil (more than 2%). Concerning dry matter, in both conditions of 50% and 80% water requirement, all fertilizer treatments had more dry matter than the control. Results demonstrated that in terms of achieving the maximum percentage of essential oil in conditions of 80% of water requirement, only chemical fertilizer as a foliar application (F4) is recommended, but in the case of 50% of water requirement, foliar application of Macromix Gold organic fertilizer (F2) can be a suitable alternative to chemical fertilizer (F4). Considering the achievement of maximum dry matter in both 80% and 50% treatments, organic fertilizer before planting (F1) is an economically and environmentally appropriate treatment

A novel current injection model of PWMSC for control and analysis of power system stability

This paper proposes a novel current injection model of Pulse width Modulation based Series Compensator (PWMSC), as new FACTS controller, for damping of low frequency oscillations. The PWMSC operates as a means of continuous control of the degree of series compensation through the variation of the duty cycle of a train of fixed frequency-pulses. The methodology is tested on the sample single machine power system including PWMSC controller by performing computer simulations for small and large distributions. MATLAB/ Simulink software package was used for the simulations

Design and data analysis for a belt-for-blind for visual impaired people

This research designs a new walking support system for the blind people in order to navigate without any assistance from others or using any guide cane. With the help of this device, a user can move independently and able to walk freely almost like a normal person. In this research, a belt for blind wearable around the waist is equipped with four ultrasonic sensors and one sharp infrared sensor. A mathematical model has been developed based on the specifications of the ultrasonic sensors to identify optimum orientation of the sensors for detecting stairs and holes. These sensors are connected to a microcontroller along with a laptop so that we can get sufficient data for analysing terrain on the walkway of the blind. Based on the analyses of the acquired data, we have developed an algorithm capable of classifying various types of obstacles. The developed belt for blind device is superior in terms of less weight less, able to detect stair and hole, low cost, less power consumption, adjustable, less training and availability of actuation systems. It was tested and implemented successfully to address all those issues

Omega 3 in Childhood Migraines: a Double Blind Randomized Clinical Trial

How to Cite This Article: Fayyazi A, Khajeh A, Ghazavi A, Sangestani M. Omega 3 in Childhood Migraines; A Double Blind Randomized Clinical Trial. Iran J Child Neurol. Winter 2016; 10(1):9-13.AbstractObjectiveThe effect of using omega-3 to prevent migraine attacks has been raised in recent studies. The majority of these studies have been conducted in adults.Conversely, other studies have yet to confirm the effect of omega-3. The main purpose of this study was to assess the effects of omega-3 in the prevention of migraine attacks in children.Materials & MethodsIn this study, children aged 5–15 years with a diagnosis of migraine were randomly assigned to case and control groups. The case group was treated with sodium valproate and 1 g of omega-3; the control group was treated with sodium valproate and a placebo for 2 months. The severity of attacks was evaluated before and after the treatment using PedMIDAS and parental satisfaction (CGI) using a 7-point Likert scale.ResultsIn this study, 12 cases and 13 controls were enrolled. The average number of headache attacks per month decreased significantly in both groups after starting the treatment but there was no significant difference between the two groups. The severity of attacks decreased significantly in both groups afterstarting the treatment but it was not significant between them. Examination of the CGI average showed the average was 6.08 (SD = 0.52) in the case group and 6.07 (SD = 0.65) in the control group.ConclusionThe present study indicated that omega-3 with a dose of 1 mg per day has no effect in reducing the severity and frequency of migraine attacks in children.Sodium valproate was effective in reducing the frequency and severity of attacks

The prevalence of pseudoexfoliation syndrome in Pakistan. Hospital based study

BACKGROUND: Pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PXS) is the most common identifiable cause of secondary glaucoma, the prevalence of which varies considerably among different ethnicities. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of pseudoexfoliation syndrome in Pakistan. METHODS: A prospective study conducted in the period from January 2003 to June 2004 in a teaching hospital serving a population of about 7.6 million. 1860 patients aged 45 or above attending the general ophthalmic clinics were recruited for this study. A detailed evaluation including ophthalmic and general history, slit lamp biomicroscopy, intraocular pressure measurement, gonioscopy and dilated eye examination was performed on all patients. RESULTS: 120(6.45%) subjects were found to have PXS with a male to female ratio of 1.5:1. All 120 (100%) cases were bilateral and 48(40%) patients had high intraocular pressure. CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study conducted in a Pakistani population to determine the prevalence of PXS. The prevalence rate of 6.45% is similar to other studies conducted in south Asia, however all cases were bilateral and quite a high percentage of patients had high intra-ocular pressure

The Use of System in the Loop, Hardware in the Loop, and Co-modeling of Cyber-Physical Systems in Developing and Evaluating New Smart Grid Solutions

This paper deals with two issues: development of some advanced smart grid applications, and implementation of advanced testbeds to evaluate these applications. In each of the development cases, the role of the testbeds is explained and evaluation results are presented. The applications cover the synchrophasor systems, interfacing of microgrids to the main grid, and cybersecurity solutions. The paper hypothesizes that the use of the advanced testbeds is beneficial for the development process since the solution product-to-market cycle may be shortened due to early real-life demonstrations. In addition, solution users’ feedback to the testbed demonstration can be incorporated at an early stage when making the changes is not as costly as doing it at more mature development stages

State of the art review on walking support system for visually impaired people

The technology for terrain detection and walking support system for blind people has rapidly been improved the last couple of decades but to assist visually impaired people may have started long ago. Currently, a variety of portable or wearable navigation system is available in the market to help the blind for navigating their way in his local or remote area. The focused category in this work can be subgroups as electronic travel aids (ETAs), electronic orientation aids (EOAs) and position locator devices (PLDs). However, we will focus mainly on electronic travel aids (ETAs). This paper presents a comparative survey among the various portable or wearable walking support systems as well as informative description (a subcategory of ETAs or early stages of ETAs) with its working principal advantages and disadvantages so that the researchers can easily get the current stage of assisting blind technology along with the requirement for optimising the design of walking support system for its users