EVALUATING THE EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC RECESSION ON IRANIAN SHIPPING MARKET

The financial crisis which started in 2007 is considered to be responsible for the creation of the greatest financial dislocations since the Great Depression in the 1930s causing a drop in the international trade. In this respect, shipping market as the main service provider to international trade experienced a downfall wherein many shipping companies lay-upped or scrapped their vessels. The main purpose of this research is to evaluate the changes in Iranian liner shipping connectivity index caused by economic recession. For this purpose, this paper studies the Iranian economy from 2007 to 2009, i.e. the recession period, and evaluates the effects of world financial crisis on the Iranian shipping market

Yearlong association of Apis dorsata and Apis florea with flowering plants: planted forest vs. agricultural landscape

The yearlong association of two native honey bee species (Apis dorsata and A. florea) with 49 plant species was recorded in a planted forest and adjacent agricultural landscape at Multan, Pakistan. The study resulted in 588 interactions of A. dorsata with 40 plant species and 454 interactions of A. florea on 38 plant species. The most visited plants species by A. dorsata included Helianthus annuus, Citrus reticulata, Trifolium alexandrinum, Moringa oleifera and Calotropis procera, while the most visited plant species by A. florea included C. procera, Mangifera indica, T. alexandrinum, Coriandrum sativum and H. annuus. The peak abundance of bees and floral resources (i.e. number of plant species in flowering and abundance of floral units) was recorded during early March to late May followed by a gradual decline until December. Monthly abundance of both bee species was positively related to the floral resources, negatively related to relative humidity while it was not significantly related to temperature. The current study may serve as a baseline to track the degradation in ecosystem service of cross pollination and making new conservation strategies at local scale while future research should focus on tempo-spatial variations in foraging preferences, floral constancy and effect of foraging competition on crop pollination in different ecological regions of Pakistan

Information Literacy among Faculty members in the Public Sector Medical Colleges of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa-Pakistan

Purpose of the study: This study aims to evaluate faculty members\u27 information literacy skills in public sector medical colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Design/Methodology/approach: The descriptive research design was used to conduct and accomplish the study\u27s objectives. The research population consisted of faculty members at public sector medical colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa southern region. Professors, Associate Professors, Assistant Professors, Lecturers, and demonstrators comprise the faculty. The adapted questionnaires of (Jan & Bahtti, 2018; Ullah, 2015; Sharma & Lata, 2019; and Rafique, 2014) were modified and used as data collection instrument. Key findings: Majority of the public sector medical college faculty recognizes the various sources of information, and they use both printed and online materials to identify needed information. The majority of faculty at these medical colleges consults monographs/textbooks regularly, preceded by online journals/medical databases. A good number of medical faculty members opted to use the HEC digital library to locate and access their contents. Delimitations of the study: This study is delimited to three public sector medical colleges operate in southern districts: of Khyber Medical University Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) in Kohat, the Gomal Medical College (GMC) in Dera Ismail Khan, and the Bannu Medical College (BMC) in Bannu. Practical implication(s): The findings of the study will motivate the policy makers and authorities of these three medical colleges in southern region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to enhance the information literacy skills of medical faculty. This practice will result into an effective medical education in the province. Contribution to the knowledge: No significant work has been done on the Faculty\u27s Information literacy skills at public sector medical colleges in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.. This study will add valuable literature to literary world

Randomized controlled trial of interferon gamma versus amantadine in combination with interferon alpha and ribavirin for hepatitis C genotype 3 non-responders and relapsers

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of triple combination regimens comprising of interferon alpha-2b (IFN-alpha) and ribavirin plus either IFN-gamma or amantadine in genotype 3 patients, responders or relapsers to interferon plus ribavirin combination. METHODS: Patients were randomized to receive IFN-alpha 3MU thrice a week, ribavirin 800-1200 mg per day with either IFN-gamma 2 MU thrice a week or amantadine 100 mg twice daily. Treatment was continued for 48 weeks in patients showing complete or partial (2 log reduction) early virological response (EVR) at 12 weeks and negative PCR at 24 weeks. RESULTS: Total enrollments were 44; 25 were previously non-responders out of them 12 were in the IFN-gamma arm. Nineteen were relapsers, out of them 10 received IFN-Gamma. Overall EVR with triple regimens was 61.4% (27/44). The EVR for IFN-gamma arm was 72.7% (16/22) and for amantadine arm 50% (11/22) (p=0.089). Sustained virological response (SVR) was 50% (11/22) in the gamma arm and 27.3% (6/22) in the amantadine arm (p=0.122). This figure was 60% (6/10) and 44% (5/9) for relapsers (p=0.845), and 41.6% (5/12) and 7.7% (1/13) for non-responders (p = 0.046).Treatment was well tolerated by most of the patients in both arms. CONCLUSIONS: About one third of patients responded to the triple regimens. However IFN-gamma was a better option. Its combination with pegylated interferon and ribavirin needs further evaluation. (Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT00538811)

Polypoid adenomyoma of the uterus.

Polypoid adenomyoma is a rare uterine endometrial polypoid tumor of mixed epithelial and mesenchymal origin. Although the clinical and pathologic features of polypoid adenomyomas have been described extensively, imaging findings for these tumors have not been frequently reported in the literature. On imaging, their features may be confused with prolapsed leiomyomas or malignancy. Hemorrhagic cystic spaces in a prolapsed uterine tumor within the vagina should raise consideration of a diagnosis of polypoid adenomyoma. Such blood-containing cystic spaces would be unusual findings in leiomyomas and malignancy. Diagnosing polypoid adenomyoma is vital because it can potentially be managed by hysteroscopic resection, unlike an ordinary form of adenomyosi

Improved Bacterial Foraging Algorithm for Optimum Economic Emission Dispatch with Wind Power

In this paper, an improved bacterial foraging algorithm (IBFA) is employed to solve economic-emission dispatch (EED) problem. Regarding to more interest to renewable energy sources especially wind energy in recent years, it is necessary to use of incorporate wind power plants into EED problem. To consider realistic conditions, EED is included bi-objective of cost and NOx emission. The problems encountered with BFA are ineffective bacteria elimination resulted in poor performance. To overcome this, a modified BFA is proposed in reproduction step termed as Improved Baterial Foraging Algorithm (IBFA). EED is solved, with wind power plant and without it, subjected to couple of constraintsusing BFA an BFA in a comparative manner.Simulation results show enhancement in convergence accuracy with IBFA rather than conventional BFA

Fluctuations Mitigation of Variable Speed Wind Turbine through Optimized Centralized Controller

A wind energy conversion system (WECS) including a variable wind turbine in grid-connected mode is considered to control. In this paper, each component of WECS model is systematically presented and then the integrated overall model is validated.Regarding to nonlinear nature of WECS and the complex system structure as multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), it is difficult to find a proper control strategy. To simplify the control design, a centralized controller, which is compatible with systematic modelling, is employed. In addition, to enhance the centralized controller performance, an optimization based on genetic algorithm (GA) is accomplished. Simulation results demonstate the effectivesness of the proposed control startegy to mitigation fluctuations