Visitors of the Holy Mosque in Makkah: Between Influence and Impact in the Mamluk Era from 648 to 923 AH (1250 to 1517 AD)

The Holy Mosque in Makkah is one of the most significant landmarks for Muslims around the world, attracting millions of visitors every year. This research aims to investigate the impact of the neighbors of the Holy Mosque on the general conditions of Makkah during the Mamluk era. The study focuses on the scientific and cultural impact, economic recovery, assistance provided, and support during crises of the Holy Mosques neighbors. The research methodology involves examining historical sources that address the topic of neighborhood during the Mamluk era. The Mamluk era is an essential period in the history of Makkah, characterized by significant achievements in science, literature, and architecture. During this period, neighboring scholars and jurists played an active role in the revival of scientific and cultural life in Makkah. Some jobs within the holy mosque were even assigned to these knowledgeable neighbors. The findings indicate that the neighbors of the Holy Mosque had a significant impact on the scientific and cultural revival in Makkah during the Mamluk era. The positive influence of the sciences and the knowledge they provided in various fields improved the social, scientific, and cultural conditions of Makkah. This research highlights the importance of the impact of the Holy Mosques neighbors on the general conditions of Makkah during the Mamluk era. Furthermore, the research recommends recognizing the significant impact of the Holy Mosques neighbors on the general conditions of Makkah during the Mamluk era

Discrete least squares meshless method for modeling 2D crack problems

In this paper, Discrete Least Squares meshless method (DLSM) is developed to analyze cracked structuresin an elastostatic problem. DLSMis a new really meshless method that does not use any mesh in computation. The method is based on the minimization of the least squares functional with respect to the nodal parameters. The least squares functional are formed as the weighted summation of the residual of the differential equation and its boundaryconditions. In thismethod, the domain of problem is discretized bysome nodesthat are used to produce Moving Least Squares shape functions. This type of discretization eliminates the Finite Element Method shortcomings. In this study, diffraction method was used to produce continuous shape functions around the crack. In diffraction method, the domain of influence wrap around the crack tip and it results in continuous derivatives of shape functions. Finally, the DLSM high efficiency and accuracy is presented by comparing the analytical results with numerical ones

In Pursuit of Sustainable Strategic Long-term Planning Throughout Meta-postmodernism as New Perspective of Stylistic Design

During the different period of architectural design, designers attempt to achieve high level of life quality for all users. Architecture and urban planner want to provide a style of design which not only achieves different function for different users with respect to their ethnicity, ability, age, sex, capability, position, and life style but also improve friendly environment throughout responsive legislation based on long-term planning. Although, the styles are considered some indicators, it is ignored the other important characteristics. Therefore, the existing styles never achieve standard level of satisfaction of different people. The goal of the research is to introduce meta-postmodern style as supplement stylistic approach. The style tries to consider all important indicators that create a strategic long-term planning for different generations. Various characteristics of new style can be applied to improve the quality of human life and provide a health, livable and sustainable planning for all users

Comparison of quality of life between myopic patients with spectacles and contact lenses, and patients who have undergone refractive surgery

Purpose: The present study aims at investigating and comparing the vision-related quality of life of myopic persons who wear spectacles or contact lenses with those who have undergone refractive surgery. It also compares the vision-related quality of life of these two groups with that of emmetropes. Method: In this study, the questionnaire of evaluation instrument of refractive error in quality of life (NEI/RQL-42) was used to compare the quality of life between 154 myopic patients with spectacles and contact lenses, and 32 patients who have undergone refractive surgery. The two groups were also compared with 54 emmetropes. The questionnaire included 13 different subgroups (score 0-100) related to vision. Data was analyzed using SPSS software. Results: The overall score of quality of life in emmetropes (95.11 ± 4.23) was more than that in persons who had undergone refractive surgery (86.98 ± 4.73), and it was the least in the group wearing spectacles or contact lenses (78.30 ± 9.21), (P < 0/001). Furthermore, except for a glare variable, the studied groups indicated a statistically significant difference in all the thirteen subgroups of vision-related quality of life. Conclusion: Quality of life for people with myopia who had the refractive surgery was better than people with myopia who wore spectacles or contact lenses. Although quality of life in people with myopia who had the refractive surgery was less than emmetropia, it seems that refractive surgery improves quality of life of myopic patients. © 2015

Grape Production Constraints in Terms of Climatic Elements and Land Physical Factors Using AHP Model in GIS Environment (Case Study: East Azarbaijan Province)

Grape is one of the nutritious fruits that have commercial value as well, and most farmers try to raise it in their lands. Considering various factors affecting   growth and yield of grape, the process of assessing the suitability of land for cultivation in order to spatial planning of this product needs the use of comprehensive and diverse geographic and descriptive information. GIS technology provides the possibility of using this type of data and facilitates spatial analysis of information based on the appropriate models. Therefore, in this study regarding the ecological needs of grape, multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method based on analytical hierarchy process (AHP) was used for modeling and spatial analysis of information in ARC/GIS 9.3 software environment. Eventually, East Azarbaijan province suitable lands for grape cultivation and production with regard to climatic elements and land physical factors (temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, topography, etc.) were evaluated and zoned. Results of this research showed  that, spatially, 10 percent of the province has conditions varying between suitable to very suitable for grape production compared to the rest of province which in terms of spatial zones included Mianeh, Malekan, Shabstar, Jolfa, Bonab and Ajabshir cities and the most suitable areas were presented concerning final layer

Association of ABCB1 and SLC22A16 gene polymorphisms with incidence of doxorubicin-induced febrile neutropenia: A survey of iranian breast cancer patients

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. Doxorubicin-based chemotherapy is used to treat breast cancer patients; however, neutropenia is a common hematologic side effect and can be life-threatening. The ABCB1 and SLC22A16 genes encode proteins that are essential for doxorubicin transport. In this study, we explored the effect of 2 common polymorphisms in ABCB1 (rs10276036 C/T) and SLC22A16 (rs12210538 A/G) on the development of grade 3/4 febrile neutropenia in Iranian breast cancer patients. Our results showed no significant association between these polymorphisms and grade 3/4 febrile neutropenia; however, allele C of ABCB1 (rs10276036 C/T) (p = 0.315, OR = 1.500, 95 CI = 0.679-3.312) and allele A of SLC22A16 (rs12210538 A/G) (p = 0.110, OR = 2.984, 95 CI = 0.743-11.988) tended to have a greater association with grade 3/4 febrile neutropenia, whereas allele T of ABCB1 (rs10276036) (p = 0.130, OR = 0.515, 95 CI = 0.217-1.223) and allele G of SLC22A16 (rs12210538) (p = 0.548, OR = 0.786, 95 CI = 0.358-1.726) tended to protect against this condition. In addition to breast cancer, a statistically significant association was also observed between the development of grade 3/4 febrile neutropenia and other clinical manifestations such as stage IIIC cancer (p = 0.037) and other diseases (p = 0.026). Our results indicate that evaluation of the risk of grade 3/4 neutropenia development and consideration of molecular and clinical findings may be of value when screening for high-risk breast cancer patients. © 2016 Faraji et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

PVDF membrane for oil-in-water separation via cross-flow ultrafiltration process

The objective of this study is to investigate the potential of ultrafiltration polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-titanium dioxide (TiO2) membrane for oil-in-water separator. PVDF polymeric matrix membrane is excellent in term of chemical and thermal stabilities, which make it very promising to be used as a membrane matrix for water separation. However, poor hydrophilic property of the PVDF has led to the severe fouling during operation. Thus, current work was performed to investigate the effect of incorporation of two additives i.e. polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) in PVDF-TiO2 membrane, which fabricated using dry/wet phase inversion technique. Membranes characterizations were performed using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), contact angle and UV-vis spectrophotometer. Accordingly, modified PVDF membrane possessed good hydrophilicity property when the additives were added into PVDF-TiO2 membrane matrix. In term of filtration performance, the experimental results showed that oil rejection using PVDF-TiO2/PVP membrane were ~99.7%, which met the requirement for discharge. On the other hand, PVDF-TiO2/PEG membrane was shown more enhancement in terms of permeate flux by given over 64 (L/m2h) at pressure of 2 bar gauge

Human Blood Lipoprotein Predictions from ¹H NMR Spectra:Protocol, Model Performances, and Cage of Covariance

Lipoprotein subfractions are biomarkers for the early diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases. The reference method, ultracentrifugation, for measuring lipoproteins is time-consuming, and there is a need to develop a rapid method for cohort screenings. This study presents partial least-squares regression models developed using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra and concentrations of lipoproteins as measured by ultracentrifugation on 316 healthy Danes. This study explores, for the first time, different regions of the 1H NMR spectrum representing signals of molecules in lipoprotein particles and different lipid species to develop parsimonious, reliable, and optimal prediction models. A total of 65 lipoprotein main and subfractions were predictable with high accuracy, Q2 of >0.6, using an optimal spectral region (1.4-0.6 ppm) containing methylene and methyl signals from lipids. The models were subsequently tested on an independent cohort of 290 healthy Swedes with predicted and reference values matching by up to 85-95%. In addition, an open software tool was developed to predict lipoproteins concentrations in human blood from standardized 1H NMR spectral recordings

Septal flip flap per la ricostruzione del basicranio anteriore dopo resezione di tumori nasosinusali: risultati preliminari

Il trattamento chirurgico dei tumori maligni nasosinusali estesi al basicranio anteriore si è evoluto nel corso degli ultimi decenni, passando dalla resezione craniofacciale tradizionale agli approcci endoscopici endonasali. In questi approcci mini-invasivi, il basicranio anteriore viene generalmente ricostruito con tecnica multistrato, utilizzando innesti di materiale autologo (fascia lata o tratto ileo-tibiale), che determinano la produzione di abbondanti crostosità a livello della neocavità chirurgica con conseguente disagio e fastidio per il paziente. In casi selezionati, proponiamo di allestire un lembo di mucopericondrio e mucoperiostio di setto nasale controlateralmente rispetto alla neoplasia, peduncolato sui rami settali delle arterie etmoidali anteriore e posteriore (Septal Flip-Flap, SFF), che può essere ruotato a ricostruire il difetto del basicranio anteriore. Criteri di esclusione per l’allestimento di questo lembo locale sono: tumori con estensione bilaterale ad interessare entrambi i complessi etmoidali; infiltrazione neoplastica del setto nasale e/o del planum sfeno-etmoidale; tumore maligno nasosinusale con istologia potenzialmente multifocale. Nel nostro centro di riferimento di terzo livello, la ricostruzione del basicranio mediante SFF è stata eseguita in 4 pazienti affetti dalle seguenti patologie: teratocarcinosarcoma etmoidale in un caso, persistenza di carcinoma indifferenziato nasosinusale (in esiti di trattamento radio-chemioterapico) in un caso, estesioneuroblastoma della fessura olfattoria in un caso, e carcinoma spinocellulare etmoidale in un caso. Non si sono verificate complicanze intra/post-operatorie, ottenendo il successo della ricostruzione del basicranio nella totalità dei casi. Nel postoperatorio si è osservata una netta riduzione delle crostosità intranasali, con rapida guarigione della neocavità chirurgica. Attualmente, non si sono registrate recidive di malattia, con un follow-up medio di 15 mesi. La ricostruzione del basicranio anteriore mediante SFF si è dimostrata sicura ed efficace, con percentuali di successo elevate, simili a quelle ottenute con altri lembi locali peduncolati. Il SFF garantisce inoltre una maggiore rapidità nel processo di guarigione della plastica del basicranio, con una diminuzione delle crostosità nasali nel postoperatorio e conseguente miglioramento della qualità di vita del paziente. Questa tecnica appare essere valida anche dal punto di vista oncologico per casi estremamente selezionati di tumore maligno nasosinusale. Casistiche più ampie con follow-up a lungo termine sono necessarie per validare i risultati preliminari di questa innovativa e promettente tecnica chirurgica

Optometrists show rudimentary understanding of evidence-based practice but are ready to embrace it: can barriers be overcome?

Evidence-based practice (EBP) involves integration of the best available evidence from research, the patient's preferences or circumstances, the clinical environment and the health practitioner's expertise. There have been several qualitative studies of EBP in health-care but none has focused on the profession of optometry. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess optometrists' perceptions of EBP in optometry