Determining the Mobility of some Essential Elements in Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) by the Neutron Activation Analysis

الغرض الرئيسي من الدراسة هو تقييم تركيزات ستة معادن أساسية (Na + ، Mg2 + ، K + ، Ca2 + ، Fe+2  و Zn+2) في الزعفران وتربة المزرعة باستخدام تحليل التنشيط النيوتروني (NAA) كطريقة قياس الطيف النووي. تم استخدام طريقة أخذ العينات العشوائية الطبقية هنا. وأظهرت نتائج NAA امتصاص البئر لـ Mg+2  و K+  و Ca+2  و Fe+2  و Zn+2  في الزعفران ، وهو أقل من نطاق السمية. بناءً على عامل التلوث ومؤشر التراكم الجغرافي ، تم تحديد مستويات تلوث التربة غير الملوثة بالزنك ، وملوثة بشكل معتدل بـ Na+  و Fe+2  ، وملوثة بشدة بـ Ca+2 و+  K و Mg+2. أشارت نتائج درجة التلوث ومؤشر حمل التلوث إلى تلوث متوسط ​​/ شديد للتربة ومتوسط ​​هندسي معتدل لمؤشر التلوث. أظهر عامل التخصيب Na + (EF) تأثيرًا ضئيلًا من صنع الإنسان على تخصيب الصوديوم. ومن المحتمل أن تكون زراعة الزعفران قد تسببت في تراكم المزيد من Mg+2  و+ K و Ca+2  و Fe+2  ، بالإضافة إلى نقص كبير في Zn+2  في التربة ، بالاعتماد على EFs. أظهر عامل التركيز البيولوجي تراكم الزنك بشكل كبير بواسطة قرم الزعفران. كان هناك انتقال جيد من القرم إلى جميع الأنسجة الهوائية لـ K+. كما قيمت نسبة امتصاص الصوديوم ، ونسبة الصوديوم القابلة للتبديل ، ودرجة الحموضة ، والتوصيل الكهربائي مستوى عدم ملوحة التربة في جميع مزارع الزعفرانThe main purpose of this investigation is to evaluate the concentrations of six essential metals (Na+, Mg2+, K+, Ca2+, Fe2+ and Zn2+) in saffron and a farm soil using the neutron activation analysis (NAA) as a nuclear spectrometry method. The stratified random sampling method was used here. The NAA results showed the well uptake of Mg2+, K+, Ca2+, Fe2+, and Zn2+ in saffron, which is lower than the toxicity range. Based on the contamination factor and geoaccumulation index, soil contamination levels were determined uncontaminated by Zn, moderately contaminated by Na+ and Fe2+, and strongly contaminated by Ca2+, K+, and Mg2+. Results of the contamination degree and pollution load index indicated moderately/strongly soil contamination and a moderate geometric mean of the contamination index. The Na+ enrichment factor (EF) showed a minimal man-made impact on sodium enrichment. Saffron cultivation has likely caused more accumulations of Mg2+, K+, Ca2+, and Fe2+, as well as a considerable deficiency of Zn2+ in the soil, based on EFs. The biological concentration factor showed a significant zinc accumulation by the corm of saffron. There was well translocation from corm to all the aerial tissues for K+. Also, sodium adsorption ratio, exchangeable sodium percentage, pH, and electrical conductivity evaluated the non-salinity level of soil in all saffron farms

Effectiveness of mind simulation on stuttering in a patient with spastic diplegia: A case report

BACKGROUND: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a non-progressive brain lesion that causes impaired muscle coordination. Diplegia is a type of limb paralysis that usually involves the symmetry organs, with the involvement of lower organs being more than the upper organs. Patients with diplegia have a type of secondary muscle tension dysphonia due to speech-breathing disorders and speech problems including stuttering. This study is conducted aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of the mind simulation method on improving stuttering in a patient with spastic diplegia.CASE REPORT: The patient was an 11-year-old boy diagnosed with spastic diplegia with stuttering disorder and had long been treated with chlorsospasm and was selected by purposive sampling method. After 21 days of assessment in the baseline stage (A), he was treated with mind simulation (B) for 10 weeks. Evaluations were carried out every 10 days and totally, 7 evaluations were carried out. Data were analyzed in a reversal design through visual method, chart slope analysis, and comparison of subjects' mean performance at baseline and intervention stages using SPSS software.CONCLUSION: The primary outcomes showed that the simulation method was associated with decreased stuttering in the patient (P < 0.01). The secondary outcomes showed decreasing scores of frequency indices, delay, movements of hand, head, face, body, mouth, and psychological factors in Stuttering Severity Instrument (SSI) (P < 0.01). The findings of this study indicated that the use of the mind simulation method as a complementary intervention could be associated with a decrease in stuttering symptoms in patients with spastic diplegia

Educational need assessment of the staffs in the area of education at the university of Tarbyat Modarres

The fundamental goal of this article was to identify and prioritize educational need assessment of the University of Tarbyat Modarres' staffs. The research methodology was in form of field and library studies and the type of research fell under the survey and descriptive category. The research universe included educational staffs of 7 faculties and educational deputyship of the University. The members of the statistical sample population amounted to 120 people where the questionnaire was distributed and collected among 85 people of whom in form of sample available. The research tool was a researcher made questionnaire with a Cronbach's alpha of %86 along with 36 items which was used on the 4 value Lickert scale. The statistical method applied in this research included descriptive and inferential statistics where in the descriptive statistics, tables and graphs of frequency and percentages were used while in the inferential statistics, variance analysis and the student t test were utilized in order to prioritize staff's educational needs. Research findings based on 6 research questions could be inferred to say that the Educational need assessment of the staffs had had a medium impact in fulfillment of the University's educational goals (t value: -1/423). Priority of staff's educational needs in the area of education was respectively as follows: managerial courses (knowledge, time and development and ...); professional ethics courses and human relations; IT skills and Foreign languages courses (t value: -1/423). Considering results we can state the educational need assessment had left a medium effect on increasing of professional efficiency and ability of the staffs (t value: 0/296). Experts also maintain that educational need assessment does not conform to the educational level (t value: -3/96) and their organizational positions (t value: -8/637) and in the end, educational courses were not either designed or implemented based on staff's educational needs (t value: -6/463). No significant relationship was either found between job records a d organizational positions and the experts' response to none of the research questions

Explicit physics-informed neural networks for non-linear upscaling closure: the case of transport in tissues

In this work, we use a combination of formal upscaling and data-driven machine learning for explicitly closing a nonlinear transport and reaction process in a multiscale tissue. The classical effectiveness factor model is used to formulate the macroscale reaction kinetics. We train a multilayer perceptron network using training data generated by direct numerical simulations over microscale examples. Once trained, the network is used for numerically solving the upscaled (coarse-grained) differential equation describing mass transport and reaction in two example tissues. The network is described as being explicit in the sense that the network is trained using macroscale concentrations and gradients of concentration as components of the feature space. Network training and solutions to the macroscale transport equations were computed for two different tissues. The two tissue types (brain and liver) exhibit markedly different geometrical complexity and spatial scale (cell size and sample size). The upscaled solutions for the average concentration are compared with numerical solutions derived from the microscale concentration fields by a posteriori averaging. There are two outcomes of this work of particular note: 1) we find that the trained network exhibits good generalizability, and it is able to predict the effectiveness factor with high fidelity for realistically-structured tissues despite the significantly different scale and geometry of the two example tissue types; and 2) the approach results in an upscaled PDE with an effectiveness factor that is predicted (implicitly) via the trained neural network. This latter result emphasizes our purposeful connection between conventional averaging methods with the use of machine learning for closure; this contrasts with some machine learning methods for upscaling where the exact form of the macroscale equation remains unknown

SMEs and carbon neutrality in ASEAN: the need to revisit sustainability policies

Most rules and regulations for protecting the environment and reducing greenhouse gas emissions target large enterprises. Although small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have major shares in most Asian economies, they remain outside the purview of most environmental rules and regulations. The primary purpose of this study is to assess the association between SMEs’ activities and carbon emissions in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries from 2010 to 2020. To this end, a fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) model was developed. The results show that SMEs’ activities do not align with environmental protection goals and sustainable development, as the estimation results revealed their significant contributions to CO2 emissions. Other practical implications of this study for carbonneutral SMEs are introducing green finance policies, revisiting the environmental and carbon reduction rules and regulations that cover SMEs, and changing banks’ lending mechanisms based on SMEs’ green economic performance

rsfMRI based evidence for functional connectivity alterations in adults with developmental stuttering

Persistent developmental stuttering (PDS) is defined as a speech disorder mainly characterized by intermittent involuntary disruption in normal fluency, time patterning, and rhythm of speech. Although extensive functional neuroimaging studies have explored brain activation alterations in stuttering, the main affected brain regions/networks in PDS still remain unclear. Here, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated resting-state whole-brain functional connectivity of 15 adults who stutter (PDS group) and 15 age-matched control individuals to reveal the connectivity abnormalities associated with stuttering. We were also interested in exploring how the severity of stuttering varies across individuals to understand the compensatory mechanism of connectivity pattern in patients showing less symptoms. Our results revealed decreased connectivity of left frontal pole and left middle frontal gyrus (MidFG) with right precentral/postcentral gyrus in stuttering individuals compared with control participants, while less symptomatic PDS individuals showed greater functional connectivity between left MidFG and left caudate. Additionally, our finding indicated reduced connectivity in the PDS group between the left superior temporal gyrus (STG) and several brain regions including the right limbic lobe, right fusiform, and right cerebellum, as well as the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG). We also observed that PDS individuals with less severe symptoms had stronger connectivity between right MTG and several left hemispheric regions including inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and STG. The connectivity between right fronto-orbital and right MTG was also negatively correlated with stuttering severity. These findings may suggest the involvement of right MTG and left MidFG in successful compensatory mechanisms in more fluent stutterers

In the Importance of EFL Learners' Writing Skill: Is there any Relation between Writing Skill and Content Score of English Essay Test?

Achievement test scores are used to diagnose strengths, weaknesses, and a basis for awarding prizes, scholarship, or degrees. They are also used in evaluating the influences of course of study, teachers, teaching methods, and other factors considered to be significant in educational practice. Still, sometimes there is a gap in the score of essay tests and the existing knowledge of examinees. In the present study, the relationship between writing skill and the academic achievement of Iranian EFL students was examined to find a logical connection between them. The results of four final exams as content scores were examined and scored again in term of writing ability in analytical scoring scheme according to IELTS criteria. Then the average of two sets of scores calculated by two raters was compared with content scores of the same tests. The results showed that correlation between content score of all students and their writing skills is meaningful at 0.01 level of significance. The results showed that there is a strong relationship between EFL students' degree of content score and their writing skill