Evolutionary study on two closed Gammarus (Crustacea, Amphipoda) species from Zagros Mountains (Iran) using molecular methods

Mitochondrial Cytochrome Oxidase Subunit I DNA sequences are a good discriminative marker for phylogenetic studies in crustaceans and especially in amphipoda. In the present study, molecular and morphological data were analyzed to test whether Gammarus lobifer authority and Gammarus balutchi authority which [sic] one or two geographically separated but morphologically similar species. The analyses proved that there are two species and that uplift of the Zagros Mountains was probably the most important cause of Allopatric speciation in this region during the Miocene period

Sexual Knowledge and Attitudes Among Premarital Couples: A Need for Future Educational Programs

Background: A significant number of youths have insufficient awareness about sexual health; whereas, correct sexual information is the main factor to prevent adverse consequences. Objectives: The current study aimed to investigate the sexual knowledge and attitudes in a sample of Iranian premarital couples. Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a sequential sample of 500 males and females who met the inclusion criteria was selected. This study was conducted in Kashan, Iran. Participants were in the age range of 16 to 40 years referred for premarital testing and educational classes. Two questionnaires containing demographic data and a culturally based sexual knowledge and attitudes scale were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using the Chi-square test, independent samples t-test, Mann-Whitney U, analysis of variance and multivariate regression. Results: About 50% of premarital couples had poor sexual knowledge and attitudes. The mean score of total sexual knowledge was 12.45 ± 8.54 out of a possible score of 33; and the mean score of total sexual attitudes was 121.63 ± 14.51 out of a possible score of 170. A significant association existed between the score of sexual knowledge and the level of education (P < 0.01), participants’ age (P < 0.01) and the score of sexual attitudes (P < 0.01). Conclusions: The majority of participants had poor sexual knowledge and attitudes regarding different aspects of sexual health

Modeling startup and shutdown transient of the microlinear piezo drive via ANSYS

The article describes the construction-design of the micro linear piezo drive intended for a peripheral cord tensioner in the reflecting surface shape regulator system for large-sized transformable spacecraft antenna reflectors. The research target -the development method of modeling startup and shutdown transient of the micro linear piezo drive. This method is based on application software package ANSYS. The method embraces a detailed description of the calculation stages to determine the operating characteristics of the designed piezo drive. Based on the numerical solutions, the time characteristics of the designed piezo drive are determined

Microlinear piezo drive experiments

The article embraces the experimental description of the micro linear piezo drive intended for the peripheral cord tensioner in the reflecting surface shape regulator system for large-sized transformable spacecraft antenna reflectors. The research target is the experimental investigation of the micro linear piezo drive to determine the stable oscillatory system operating modes which would include improved energy conversion parameters. The following points are briefly presented: test stand construction-design of the peripheral cord tensioner; the determined frequency characteristics and the identified resonant and actual frequencies of an oscillatory system under inertia load. A series of experiments has been conducted for both different preliminary voltages and inertia mass values

Alignment of distributed oscillation systems in piezo motors

The pressing problem in the space domain is the development of large-sized reflectors for spacecrafts. The specified criteria for reflector structure are precise reflector surface shape and structure mass. Precise reflector surface shape during long-term performance is provided by the alignment of piezoelectric motors used in the reflector structure. These motors exhibit both limited mass-dimensional coefficient and can produce high force. Piezo-motor is distributed mechanical – acoustic oscillation system. In the piezo-motor mechanical – acoustic oscillation is generated by PZT-stack being transferred to the oscillator then to the load action element. The objective of the work is the study the alignment of distributed oscillation systems in piezo-motors. The novelty of the work is using the alignment of oscillator impedance and load impedance to determine the performance resonance frequency of distributed oscillation system in piezo-motor. This method simplifies the possibility of analyzing distributed in piezo-motor oscillation system characteristics. The method was tested under different in piezo-motor load modes

Influence of the oxygen partial pressure on the growth and optical properties of RF-sputtered anatase TiO2 thin films

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) films with thicknesses around 300 nm were deposited on glass substrates by reactive radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering at constant RF sputtering power (200 W), high sputtering pressure and room temperature. The effects of the oxygen presence on the growth and properties of the films were investigated using mixtures of Ar and O2 with different O2/(Ar + O2) ratios (from 0.0 to 0.3) during the sample deposition. The crystalline properties and surface morphology were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), respectively. The optical properties were studied by ultraviolet–visible–near infrared (UV–Vis–NIR) spectroscopy, and the refractive index and the thickness of the samples were obtained using the Swanepoel method. The obtained results indicate that all the TiO2 films grew with an anatase phase and with an improved crystallinity at O2/(Ar + O2) = 0.2. However, AFM studies show that the grain size and surface roughness decrease as the O2/(Ar + O2) ratio increases from 0.0 to 0.3. Moreover, a maximum refractive index was obtained for the sample prepared at O2/(Ar + O2) = 0.2

Factors affecting quality of care in family planning clinics: A study from Iran

Background. Despite good contraceptive coverage rates, recent studies in Iran have shown an alarmingly high incidence of unplanned pregnancy. Objective. To determine factors affecting quality of family planning services, a cross-sectional study was performed from June to August 2006 on women visiting urban Primary Health Care clinics in a provincial capital in western Iran. The primary focus of the study was on provider-client interaction. Method. We used a slightly edited version of a UNICEF checklist and a convenient sampling method to assess quality of care in 396 visits to the family planning sections at 25 delivery points. Results. Poor performance was observed notably in Counselling and Choice of method sections. In logistic regression analysis, the following factors were found to be associated with higher quality of care: provider experience OR (odds ratio) = 1.9, CI0.95 (confidence interval) = 1.2-3.0, low provider education (OR = 6.7, CI0.95 = 4.0=10.8), smaller workload at the clinic (OR = 3.7, CI0.95 = 2.0-6.7), and 'new client' status (OR = 4.2, CI0.95 = 2.6-6.7). Conclusion. This study identified the issues of counselling and information exchange as the quality domains in serious need of improvement; these areas are expected to be the focus of future training programmes for care providers. Also, priority should be given to devising effective supervision mechanisms and on-the-job training of senior nursing and midwifery graduates to make them more competent in delivering basic family planning services. © The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the International Society for Quality in Health Care; all rights reserved

The applicability of acoustic emission method to modeling the endurance of metallic construction elements

Acoustic emission method is the most effective nondestructive inspection technique of construction elements. This paper considers the expanded applicability of acoustic emission method to modeling the damage and the remaining operational life of building structures, including the high-ductile metals. The modeling of damage accumulation was carried out to predict endurance using acoustic emission method

Capability of the variogram to quantify the spatial patterns of surface fluxes and soil moisture simulated by land surface models

Up to now, relatively little effort has been dedicated to the quantitative assessment of the differences in spatial patterns of model outputs. In this paper, we employed a variogram-based methodology to quantify the differences in the spatial patterns of root-zone soil moisture, net radiation, and latent and sensible heat fluxes simulated by three land surface models (SURFEX/ISBA, JULES and CHTESSEL) over three European geo- graphic domains – namely, UK, France and Spain. The model output spatial patterns were quantified through two metrics derived from the variogram: i) the variogram sill, which quantifies the degree of spatial variability of the data; and ii) the variogram integral range, which represents the spatial length scale of the data. The higher seasonal variation of the spatial variability of sensible and latent heat fluxes over France and Spain, compared to the UK, is related to a more frequent occurrence of a soil-moisture-limited evapotranspiration regime during summer dry spells in the south of France and Spain. The small differences in spatial variability of net radiation between models indicate that the spatial patterns of net radiation are mostly driven by the climate forcing data set. However, the models exhibit larger differences in latent and sensible heat flux spatial variabilities, which are related to their differences in i) soil and vegetation ancillary datasets and ii) physical process representation. The highest discrepancies in spatial patterns between models are observed for soil moisture, which is mainly related to the type of soil hydraulic function implemented in the models. This work demonstrates the capability of the variogram to enhance our understanding of the spatiotemporal structure of the uncertainties in land surface model outputs. Therefore, we strongly encourage the implementation of the variogram metrics in model intercomparison exercises