21 research outputs found

    Soft Computing Modelling of Urban Evolution: Tehran Metropolis

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    Exploring computational intelligence, geographic information systems and statistical information, a creative and innovative model for urban evolution is presented in this paper. The proposed model employs fuzzy logic and artificial neural network as forecasting tools for describing the urban growth. This dynamic urban evolution model considers the spatial data of population, as well as its time changes and the building usage patterns. For clustering the spatial features, fuzzy algorithms were implemented to represent different levels of urban growth and development. Then, these fuzzy clusters were modeled by the multi-layer neural networks to estimate the urban growth. Based on this novel intelligent model, the current state of development of Tehran’s population and the future of this urban evolution were evaluated by empirical data and the achieved outcomes were detailed in qualitative charts. The input data-set includes four censuses with five-year intervals. Tehran's demographic evolution model forecasts the next five years with an overall accuracy of 81% and Cohen's kappa coefficient up to 74% beside the qualitative charts. These performance indicators are higher than the previous advanced models. The primary objective of this proposed model is to aid planners and decision makers to predict the development trend of urban population

    Moral distress and attitude to euthanasia: A correlation study in nurses

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    Moral distress is one of the major health issues that can affect the quality of nursing work life and fails to achieve health goals. One of the major issues affecting the development of moral distress phenomenon is euthanasia. Although the occurrence of the phenomenon according to religious and legal structures in Iran is impossible; But it also could underlie attitude to events; among the causes of moral distress in nursing is discussed. Cross - sectional study aimed to investigate the relationship between the phenomenon of moral distress and euthanasia is performed. A quota sample of subjects selected from hospitals in Kerman and data were collected to Corly moral distress and attitudes toward euthanasia questionnaire. The results indicate that the intensity and frequency of moral distress among nurses attitudes towards euthanasia is not significant relation (P>0/05). Average of moral distress in nurses (2/7±0/57) and the average attitude towards euthanasia (0/9± 1/5) were reported. According to this issue euthanasia is one of the reasons which produce moral distress in nurses but maybe Low nurse’s attitudes prevent it. Levels of moral distress planning and attention needed to understand this phenomenon and to increase nurses' coping mechanisms they to require and as a result come that this phenomenon cannot have an important role in creation of moral distress in Iranian nurses, nonetheless, levels of moral distress necessitate planning and attention for introducing this phenomenon to the nurses and increasing coping mechanisms in them

    Moral intelligence in nursing: a cross-sectional study in East of Iran

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    Abstract Moral intelligence is one of the dimensions of intelligence that can provide a framework for the proper function of man, and be used as a predictor for people’s conduct. Nurses’ performance is of great importance because of the moral and human nature of their profession, and their adherence to ethical principles improves the nursing care quality as well as organizational performance. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess moral intelligence in nurses. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 nurses from teaching hospitals in South Khorasan. Participants were selected through census method. Data were collected by Lennik & Kiel’s moral intelligence questionnaire, and data analysis was performed using SPSS 16 software and descriptive and analytical statistics tests. The results suggest that the nurses’ moral intelligence score was 4.35 ± 0.56 (range: 1-5). There was a direct and meaningful relationship between moral intelligence and age and years of practice (P < 0.05). Optimal levels of moral intelligence suggest the importance that nurses attribute to moral values, and can also be an indirect manifestation of their moral conduct in healthcare environments

    Properties of PS/TiO2 electrospun fibres using limonene as a solvent

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    Limonene, a natural solvent, has been used for producing polystyrene (PS) nanocomposite (NC) fibres. Nanocomposite fibres of PS are prepared by electrospinning of a homogeneous solution of titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) and PS. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of PS nanocomposite fibres confirms the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles in the samples. FTIR spectra of PS nanocomposite fibres obviously show that there is no chemical linkage or interaction between PS and TiO2 nanoparticles in the resulting composites fibres. The morphology of PS electrospun fibres and PS/TiO2 nanocomposite fibres is investigated by SEM and FE-SEM. FE-SEM images of electrospun fibres reveal some aggregation of TiO2 nanoparticles. The results also show that increasing TiO2 nanoparticles reduces PS electrospun fibres diameter. Also, the UV protection of PS electrospun fibres is enhanced due to the increase in TiO2 nanoparticles load. Tensile strength and elasticity modulus first show an increase up to 4 wt% of TiO2 and then a decrease at higher loading. Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) thermograms for PS electrospun fibres indicate that the introduction of TiO2 nanoparticles decreases the glass transition temperature (Tg)

    A Multicriteria Optimization for Flight Route Networks in Large-Scale Airlines Using Intelligent Spatial Information

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    Air route network optimization, one of the airspace planning challenges, effectively manages airspace resources toward increasing airspace capacity and reducing air traffic congestion. In this paper, the structure of the flight network in air transport is analyzed with a multi-objective genetic algorithm regarding Geographic Information System (GIS) which is used to optimize this Iran airlines topology to reduce the number of airways and the aggregation of passengers in aviation industries organization and also to reduce changes in airways and the travel time for travelers. The proposed model of this study is based on the combination of two topologies – point-to-point and Hub-and-spoke – with multiple goals for causing a decrease in airways and travel length per passenger and also to reach the minimum number of air stops per passenger. The proposed Multi-objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) is tested and assessed in data of the Iran airlines industry in 2018, as an example to real-world applications, to design Iran airline topology. MOGA is proven to be effective in general to solve a network-wide flight trajectory planning. Using the combination of point-to-point and Hub-and-spoke topologies can improve the performance of the MOGA algorithm. Based on Iran airline traffic patterns in 2018, the proposed model successfully decreased 50.8% of air routes (184 air routes) compared to the current situations while the average travel length and the average changes in routes were increased up to 13.8% (about 100 kilometers) and up to 18%, respectively. The proposed algorithm also suggests that the current air routes of Iran can be decreased up to 24.7% (89 airways) if the travel length and the number of changes increase up to 4.5% (32 kilometers) and 5%, respectively. Two intermediate airports were supposed for these experiments. The computational results show the potential benefits of the proposed model and the advantage of the algorithm. The structure of the flight network in air transport can significantly reduce operational cost while ensuring the operation safety. According to the results, this intelligent multi-object optimization model would be able to be successfully used for a precise design and efficient optimization of existing and new airline topologies

    The survey of Kerman University nursing students' viewpoints about educational services quality provided for them

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    The progress in nursing education requires maintaining the quality of services. Nursing faculties have to improve themselves using evidence-based quality strategies. Evaluation of educational services quality by nursing students is widely used in formulating quality improvement of nursing education. The aim of this study was to determine the nursing students' viewpoint about educational services’ quality in Kerman University of medical sciences.. In this cross sectional descriptive study a stratified random sampling consist of 500 students from four nursing faculties (Bam، Zarand ، Jiroft and Kerman) were selected. The data were collected using SERVQUAL questionnaire. The data were analyzed by SPSS version 12 software using descriptive and analytical (t test and ANOVA) statistics. Significant level was set as 0.05. According to the results، the reliability dimension of service quality had the highest score and responsiveness dimension had the lower score. There was a significant difference among five dimensions of Service quality (p< 0.05). Service quality score in Kerman nursing school (razi) is higher than others (p<0.000). According to the finding، there are opportunities for quality improvement in these faculties. Nursing managers should not neglect the importance of investing in educational services، especially when they intend to improve the quality of their services. Keywords: students\' viewpoints, services quality, nursing studen

    Outcomes of cerebral venous thrombosis due to vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia after the acute phase

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    © 2022 American Heart Association, Inc.Background: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) due to vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) is a severe condition, with high in-hospital mortality rates. Here, we report clinical outcomes of patients with CVT-VITT after SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) vaccination who survived initial hospitalization. Methods: We used data from an international registry of patients who developed CVT within 28 days of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, collected until February 10, 2022. VITT diagnosis was classified based on the Pavord criteria. Outcomes were mortality, functional independence (modified Rankin Scale score 0–2), VITT relapse, new thrombosis, and bleeding events (all after discharge from initial hospitalization). Results: Of 107 CVT-VITT cases, 43 (40%) died during initial hospitalization. Of the remaining 64 patients, follow-up data were available for 60 (94%) patients (37 definite VITT, 9 probable VITT, and 14 possible VITT). Median age was 40 years and 45/60 (75%) patients were women. Median follow-up time was 150 days (interquartile range, 94–194). Two patients died during follow-up (3% [95% CI, 1%–11%). Functional independence was achieved by 53/60 (88% [95% CI, 78%–94%]) patients. No new venous or arterial thrombotic events were reported. One patient developed a major bleeding during follow-up (fatal intracerebral bleed). Conclusions: In contrast to the high mortality of CVT-VITT in the acute phase, mortality among patients who survived the initial hospitalization was low, new thrombotic events did not occur, and bleeding events were rare. Approximately 9 out of 10 CVT-VITT patients who survived the acute phase were functionally independent at follow-up.This study was funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development (ZonMw, grant number 10430072110005), the Dr. C.J. Vaillant Foundation, and Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (grant TYH2022223).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis due to vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia in middle-income countries

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    Background: Adenovirus-based COVID-19 vaccines are extensively used in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Remarkably, cases of cerebral venous sinus thrombosis due to vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (CVST-VITT) have rarely been reported from LMICs. Aims: We studied the frequency, manifestations, treatment, and outcomes of CVST-VITT in LMICs. Methods: We report data from an international registry on CVST after COVID-19 vaccination. VITT was classified according to the Pavord criteria. We compared CVST-VITT cases from LMICs to cases from high-income countries (HICs). Results: Until August 2022, 228 CVST cases were reported, of which 63 were from LMICs (all middle-income countries [MICs]: Brazil, China, India, Iran, Mexico, Pakistan, Turkey). Of these 63, 32 (51%) met the VITT criteria, compared to 103 of 165 (62%) from HICs. Only 5 of the 32 (16%) CVST-VITT cases from MICs had definite VITT, mostly because anti-platelet factor 4 antibodies were often not tested. The median age was 26 (interquartile range [IQR] 20–37) versus 47 (IQR 32–58) years, and the proportion of women was 25 of 32 (78%) versus 77 of 103 (75%) in MICs versus HICs, respectively. Patients from MICs were diagnosed later than patients from HICs (1/32 [3%] vs. 65/103 [63%] diagnosed before May 2021). Clinical manifestations, including intracranial hemorrhage, were largely similar as was intravenous immunoglobulin use. In-hospital mortality was lower in MICs (7/31 [23%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 11–40]) than in HICs (44/102 [43%, 95% CI 34–53], p = 0.039). Conclusions: The number of CVST-VITT cases reported from LMICs was small despite the widespread use of adenoviral vaccines. Clinical manifestations and treatment of CVST-VITT cases were largely similar in MICs and HICs, while mortality was lower in patients from MICs.</p

    Sex differences in cerebral venous sinus thrombosis after adenoviral vaccination against COVID-19

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    Introduction: Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis associated with vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (CVST-VITT) is a severe disease with high mortality. There are few data on sex differences in CVST-VITT. The aim of our study was to investigate the differences in presentation, treatment, clinical course, complications, and outcome of CVST-VITT between women and men. Patients and methods: We used data from an ongoing international registry on CVST-VITT. VITT was diagnosed according to the Pavord criteria. We compared the characteristics of CVST-VITT in women and men. Results: Of 133 patients with possible, probable, or definite CVST-VITT, 102 (77%) were women. Women were slightly younger [median age 42 (IQR 28–54) vs 45 (28–56)], presented more often with coma (26% vs 10%) and had a lower platelet count at presentation [median (IQR) 50x109/L (28–79) vs 68 (30–125)] than men. The nadir platelet count was lower in women [median (IQR) 34 (19–62) vs 53 (20–92)]. More women received endovascular treatment than men (15% vs 6%). Rates of treatment with intravenous immunoglobulins were similar (63% vs 66%), as were new venous thromboembolic events (14% vs 14%) and major bleeding complications (30% vs 20%). Rates of good functional outcome (modified Rankin Scale 0-2, 42% vs 45%) and in-hospital death (39% vs 41%) did not differ. Discussion and conclusions: Three quarters of CVST-VITT patients in this study were women. Women were more severely affected at presentation, but clinical course and outcome did not differ between women and men. VITT-specific treatments were overall similar, but more women received endovascular treatment.</p

    Nitrogen, implantation in N-type and P-type silicon

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    Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industrie
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