An investigation on cognitive and behavioural effects of donepezil on autistic children in Winter 2020 in Gorgan Taleghani pediatric hospital

ObjectivesThe present investigation has been done to study the behavioraleffects of donepezil in autistic children, given that not much researchhas been carried out concerning using this drug for treating autism. Materials & MethodsA cross-sectional and analytic-descriptive study was done on twentypatients with autism, aged 4-17, who visited the neurology clinic of Gorgan’s Taleghani Pediatric Hospital and Yasha Pediatric Autism Clinic, Iran from 2019 to 2020. Demographic information, including sex, age, father’s education, mother’s education ,patient’s education, family status, other problems, and ethnicity, were documented using a checklist, having been filled in during interviews with the parents. Before the trial, ABC cognitive and behavioral tests were taken to determine the children’s current status. After the tests, these children received a daily dose of donepezil (10mg) before sleep for three months. At the end of the three months, the cognitive and behavioral tests were taken from the children once again. In order to analyze the effects of different factors on the studied variables, including irritability, lethargy, stereotypic behavior, hyperactivity, and inappropriate speech before and after the administration of donepezil in patients, a generalized linear model and to test the effects of donepezil on the studied variables, paired t-test was used. ResultsIn this study, twenty patients were registered for the investigation, 12 (60%) male and eight (40%) female. Age groups 5-6 had the highest frequency, and age group 17 had the lowest. Regardingthe parents’ education, the highest frequency was for bachelor’s degrees, and the lowest was for less-than-high school education and master’s degree. The highest frequency for the patients’ education was kindergarten (60%), and then groups without education (20%) and elementary school-level education (15%). Most of the studied patients (80%) did not have other problems besides autism, and only 20% had other problems besides autism. The family status of 15% of the families was ‘separated,’ and ethnically, most patients (80%) were Fars, while the rest (20%) were Turkmen. None of the analyzed factors (age, sex, father’s education, mother’s education, patient’s education, other problems, family status, and ethnicity) had a significant effect on the studied variables after the administration of donepezil. Among the studied variables prior to the administration of donepezil and among the analyzed factors, the father’s education, the patient’s education, other problems, and family status had only a significant effect on stereotypic behavior. The present research findings of the present research indicated that all the studied variables, including irritability, lethargy, stereotypic behavior, hyperactivity, and inappropriate speech, were significantly decreased toward the desired goal. The decreased amounts in irritability, lethargy, stereotypic behavior, hyperactivity, and inappropriate speech after the administration of donepezil were, respectively, 38%, 44%, 54%, 41%, and 54% and on average, these behaviors were reduced by 46%. ConclusionThe present investigation has shown that all the studied variables, including irritability, lethargy, stereotypic behavior, hyperactivity, and inappropriate speech, were significantly decreased towards the desired goal by 46%. This significant decrease is indicative of the effectiveness of the treatment of autism patients with donepezil, and therefore, this drug can be placed as a prominent and essential part of the medical therapy of autism. &nbsp

Kemijska karakterizacija biološkog ulja dobivenoga pirolizom zdravoga i natrulog drva bukve (Fagus orientalis)

Among forest diseases, fungi are the most important agents that cause irreparable losses to the wood of standing trees and logs. In this study, pyrolysis of undecayed and decayed beech (Fagus orientalis) wood were carried out using a fixed-bed reactor at pyirolysis temperature of 500 °C in nitrogen atmosphere. The influence of Trametes versicolor fungal decay on the yield and chemical composition of products was investigated. The bio-oil yield was 62.5 wt% at a pyrolysis temperature of 500 °C for decayed wood, while the bio-oil yield was found to be about 58 wt% at the same temperature for undecayed wood. Bio-oils were characterized using some chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques, such as gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). It as found that Tetracosamethyl-cyclododecasiloxane (5.50 %), tetradecamethyl-hexasiloxane (4.85 %), 2,6-dimethoxy-phenol (4.21 %), and benzene acetic acid (3.16 %) were the main oil components present in decayed beech wood, while syringol (14.86%), methoxyeugenol (6.59 %), naphthalene (4.41 %), o-guaiacol (3.60 %), isoeugenol (3.17 %), and 2-methoxy-4-methyl-phenol (3.08 %) were present in undecayed beech wood. These results show that decayed wood can be used for the production of bio-oil.Među šumskim štetnicima gljive su najopasniji činitelji koji uzrokuju nepovratne gubitke drva rastućih stabala i trupaca. U ovom je istraživanju provedena piroliza uzoraka od zdravoga i natrulog drva bukve (Fagus orientalis) u atmosferi dušika, uz pomoć fiksnog reaktora i pri temperaturi pirolize 500 °C. Istraživan je utjecaj gljiva truležnica (Trametes versicolor) na prinose i kemijski sastav produkata pirolize tretiranog drva. Prinos biološkog ulja od natrulog drva pri temperaturi pirolize 500 °C bio je 62,5 % (težinskog udjela), dok je prinos biološkog ulja od zdravog drva bio oko 58 % (težinskog udjela) pri jednakoj temperaturi pirolize. Biološkog ulja su karakterizirana uz pomoć određenih kromatografskih i spektroskopskih tehnika kao što je plinska kromatografija / masena spektrometrija (GC/MS). Utvrđeno je da su glavne uljne komponente zastupljene u natruloj bukovini tetracosametilciklododekasiloksan (5,50 %), tetradekametil heksasiloksan (4,85 %), 2,6-dimetoksi-fenol (4,21 %) i benzen octena kiselina (3,16 %), dok je u zdravom bukovu drvu bilo siringola (14,86 %), metoksieugenola (6,59 %), naftalena (4,41 %), o-gvajakola (3,60 %), izoeugenola (3,17 %) i 2-metoksi-4-metilfenola (3,08 %). Dobiveni rezultati pokazuju da se natrulo drvo može iskoristiti za proizvodnju biološkog ulja

Analisis visual komik Zunar berdasarkan semiotik Peirce dan teori relevans

Kemajuan teknologi hari ini telah memberikan impak yang cukup besar terhadap aktiviti dan gaya hidup manusia seharian. Impak ini lebih ketara pada media massa dan medium komunikasi yang ada pada hari ini sama ada yang berbentuk audio mahupun visual. Salah satu media yang turut menerima kesannya ialah majalah humor atau komik yang semakin maju dan bergerak pantas dari segi penghasilan dan penyebaran karyanya. Majalah humor atau komik hari ini bukan sahaja diterbitkan secara bercetak malahan diterbitkan secara atas talian juga dan ia boleh diakses melalui pelbagai aplikasi yang ada. Perkembangan industri komik ini memberikan isyarat bahawa medium komik turut berperanan dalam memberikan hiburan, maklumat, kritikan dan sindiran kepada masyarakat pada hari ini. Peranan komik sebagai medium kritikan sangat ketara dan didapati memberikan kesan pada pembaca sekitar 2014 hingga sekarang tentang isu-isu politik yang melibatkan pemimpin-pemimpin tertinggi di Malaysia. Justeru, bagi memperlihatkan bahawa komik ini merupakan satu bentuk komunikasi yang sangat ostensif yang mampu menyampaikan maklumat dengan cara yang sangat jelas dan berkesan, maka satu kajian diketengahkan bagi mengkaji komik Zunar yang berkisarkan isu politik Malaysia dengan menggunakan pendekatan semiotik Peirce dan Teori Relevans. Dengan menggunakan kedua-dua teori ini, cara mana bentuk visual sebagai kod komunikasi dapat diinterpretasikan dengan sebaik-baiknya bagi mencapai maksud yang sebenar dapat dijelaskan dengan empiris dan berpada berdasarkan idea-idea yang digagaskan oleh teori yang tersebut

Fuzzy mean and range control charts for monitoring fuzzy quality characteristics: a case study in food industries using chicken nugget

Organizations must improve or at least maintain the quality of their products to be competitive in today's market. Thus, developing a new approach which could utilize more information from the production process has become an inevitable quality improvement program for each organization. In current study, a fuzzy mean and range control charts were developed to monitor the production process. Fuzzy control charts could handle the uncertainty due to vagueness, ambiguity and/or incomplete information in addition to the inherent uncertainty due to randomness in quality characteristic measurements. The proposed fuzzy control charts were validated through a case study at the chicken nugget production company by collecting data from the factory floor and comparing it to the traditional Shewhart control charts which have been already applied by the factory for monitoring the process. The results reveal that the proposed fuzzy control charts could detect abnormal shifts in the production process more accurately than the traditional Shewhart control charts, as they had used more information from the process. The proposed approach has several benefits for the company by improving the quality and increasing the productivity

Comparing the Efficiency of Intelligent Hybrid Operator Assistance Software with Intuitive Set-up (OASIS) for Assembly Production Line

Pick-To-Light Order Picking System is the operational process when an operator begins to pick the parts in a sequential manner by which the quantity of the parts is recorded. The design of an effective hybrid order picking process in an assembly line is assisted by an intelligent sensing system to improve pick efficiency, accuracy and increase productivity. This research compares between intelligent hybrid order picking versus order picking with pick confirmation system at parts assembly line. The results show that by our proposed system with the elimination of certain steps within the picking process, the better efficiency, accuracy, fewer miss-picks will occur in the system and the operator can perform more intelligently with required picking quantities. The development of this system can provide a low-cost solution with an intelligent order picking system for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and a fast-moving production assembly line in manufacturing

The Valuable Consequences of Financial Reporting Convergence towards Integrated Reporting

This paper analyzed the consequences of financial reporting convergence towards integrated reporting in Iran's capital market focusing on agency cost and cost of equity capital. In order to measure the financial reporting convergence towards integrated reporting, a checklist has been used which designed based on the international integrated reporting framework. The agency cost measured using the efficiency criterion based on the ratio of operational expenses to operational revenues. The cost of equity capital estimated based on the expected rate of return using the capital assets pricing model. The research population includes 144 firms listed in the Tehran Securities & Exchange over March 2016 till March 2021. Multivariable regression models were used to test research hypotheses. The findings showed that increase in convergence level of firms’ financial reporting with integrated reporting framework has reduced agency cost and cost of equity capital. These findings suggested that focusing on the benefits of integrated reporting through transparency and completeness of information disclosure has weakened agency conflicts and reduced agency costs. In addition, integrated reporting has reduced the cost of capital in financing decisions due to the adoption of sustainable business model from integrated thinking and the reduction of information asymmetry due to greater transparency for more informed forecasting

Neural Network-Based Equations for Predicting PGA and PGV in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas

Parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas have experienced increased rates of seismicity in recent years, providing new datasets of earthquake recordings to develop ground motion prediction models for this particular region of the Central and Eastern North America (CENA). This paper outlines a framework for using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to develop attenuation models from the ground motion recordings in this region. While attenuation models exist for the CENA, concerns over the increased rate of seismicity in this region necessitate investigation of ground motions prediction models particular to these states. To do so, an ANN-based framework is proposed to predict peak ground acceleration (PGA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) given magnitude, earthquake source-to-site distance, and shear wave velocity. In this framework, approximately 4,500 ground motions with magnitude greater than 3.0 recorded in these three states (Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas) since 2005 are considered. Results from this study suggest that existing ground motion prediction models developed for CENA do not accurately predict the ground motion intensity measures for earthquakes in this region, especially for those with low source-to-site distances or on very soft soil conditions. The proposed ANN models provide much more accurate prediction of the ground motion intensity measures at all distances and magnitudes. The proposed ANN models are also converted to relatively simple mathematical equations so that engineers can easily use them to predict the ground motion intensity measures for future events. Finally, through a sensitivity analysis, the contributions of the predictive parameters to the prediction of the considered intensity measures are investigated.Comment: 5th Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering and Soil Dynamics Conference, Austin, TX, USA, June 10-13. (2018

State of Art of Telemonitoring in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus, with a Focus on Elderly Patients

Since the beginning of the 1990s, several telemedicine projects and studies focused on type 1 and type 2 diabetes have been developed, including very few elderly diabetic patients. Several of these projects specifically concerned elderly subjects (n = 4). Mainly, these projects and studies show that telemonitoring diabetes results in improved blood glucose control—a significant reduction in HbA1c, improved patient ownership of the disease, greater patient adherence to therapeutic and hygiene-dietary measures, positive impact on comorbidities (hypertension, weight, dyslipidemia), improved quality of life for patients, and at least good patient receptivity and accountability. To date, the magnitude of its effects remains debatable, especially with the variation in patients’ characteristics (e.g., background, ability for self-management, medical condition), sample selection, and approach for treatment of control groups. Over the last 5 years, numerous telemedicine projects based on connected objects and new information and communication technologies (ICT) (elements defining telemedicine 2.0) have emerged or are still under development

A Mathematical Model for A Cladding Fastener to Estimate the Maximum Pull-Out Force Capacity

In the last few years, considerable attention has been paid to the roof cladding systems due to their progressive use in the construction of low-rise buildings. The design of such systems has been gaining importance since they are subjected to severe damage and failure caused by high wind events, particularly at their fastener connection points. To offer a solution for predicting the maximum pull-out force capacity of cladding fasteners, this article presents a mathematical model for a fastener made of high strength steel austenitic 316. In this model, the two basic parameters of the fastener, namely the thread depth and the thread angle are included as the main elements of the contact surface between threads and the low carbon mild steel batten/purlin sheets. This mathematical model will be proposed to estimate the maximum pull-out force capacity of the cladding fasteners made of cold-formed A2 316 stainless steel. After finding the parameters of the mathematical model by using an optimization method based on a genetic algorithm (GA), a comparison will be made between the mean estimation error of the new model and the formerly proposed ones