The effect of living in the present time, healthy character development and social character growth of staff on their performance: case Study; clinical and paraclinical areas of Ahwaz Imam Khomeini Hospital

The aim of the present research was to investigate the effect of living in the present, healthy character development and social character growth of staff on their performance in clinical and para-clinical fields of Ahvwaz Imam Khomeini hospital. In this research, the descriptive research method was of the correlational type. Necessary information was prepared from selected sample from the research statistical population, namely clinical and para-clinical staff of Ahwaz Imam Khomeini Hospital who was 1000 ones and 280 of them was selected as volume of the sample based on Cochran formula using available sampling. Data were collected using a researcher-built questionnaire based on Fordyce's 14-point model with 42 questions and performance questionnaire and Stephen E. Candrie performance questionnaire with 10 aspects and 32 questions. Cronbach alpha coefficient for questionnaire and performance questionnaire were 0.97 and 0.94, respectively indicating acceptable reliability. Also, validity of the questionnaire was confirmed based on supervisors and number of experts in the field of management through content validity. Data analyses were done in to levels of descriptive and inferential statistics. In inferential part, regression analysis and Pearson correlation test were done using SPSS software. The results of the present study showed that living in the present, healthy character development and social character growth of Ahwaz Imam Khomeini Hospital staff have a positive effect on their performance and whatever staff live in the present and develop their character and be more social, their performance will increase

Ga-based III-V semiconductor photoanodes for solar fuels and novel techniques to investigate their photocorrosion.

Solar energy is one of the most abundant renewable energy sources. However, the diurnal variation of the sun as well as seasonal and weather effects, limits the widespread global implementation of solar energy. Thus, Cost-effective energy storage is critical to overcome the intermittent nature of solar energy available on the earth. Photoelectrolysis of water to oxygen and hydrogen fuel is a promising large-scale solution to store intermittent solar energy in a dense and portable form. Photoelectrochemical (PEC) water-splitting, or artificial photosynthesis, research strives to develop a semiconductor photoelectrode with both high efficiency and long-term stability. Semiconductors of the III–V class are among the most promising materials for high efficiency solar fuels applications. However, they suffer from severe instability in acidic and alkaline electrolyte and fundamental understanding of the corrosion mechanism of III-V semiconductors is of significant importance for the solar fuels community. This dissertation is focused on study of photocorrosion of Gallium based III-V semiconductors. A thorough review of important in-situ analytical techniques for the investigation of materials stability is given. The review explains some of the main in-situ electrochemical characterization techniques, briefly explaining the principle of operation and the necessary modifications for in-situ operation, and highlighting key relevant work in applying the method for the investigation of material stability and interfacial properties for electrocatalysts and photoelectrode materials. Next, in this dissertation, the corrosion of n-GaP, a promising III–V material for tandem top subcells, was investigated in strongly acidic electrolyte using an in-situ UV-Vis spectroscopy technique to monitor dissolved Ga and P species as a function of applied bias and time. The changing faradaic efficiency of the electrochemical GaP oxidation reaction was calculated from this data and used to interpret the corrosion process in conjunction with SEM and XPS characterization. In addition, corrosion measurements were made with thin conformal coatings of TiO2 as a protective barrier layer on the GaP surface. Although the protective coating slowed the rate of GaP dissolution, the TiO2 layers produced herein contributed significant charge-transfer resistance and still showed similar trends in the corrosion faradaic efficiency vs. time as the bare n-GaP. Further, photocorrosion of n-GaAs, one of the most well-developed and efficient III-V semiconductors was studied in strongly acidic electrolyte. Three type of Ir, OER co-catalyst, were tested to investigate their affect on photocorrosion of n-GaAs. In-situ UV-Vis spectroscopy was utilized to monitor the corrosion faradaic efficiency and the results showed decreased dissolution faradaic efficiency to a small degree over the first 15 minutes for samples with thin layers of Ir. SEM and XPS characterization have also been used to understand the photocorrosion mechanism. To develop high efficiency and stable water splitting systems new semiconductor materials with appropriate band gap, band edge positions, charge carrier mobility and chemical stability are demanded. Synthesis of ternary III-V alloys enable us to tune the band gap of III-V semiconductor with changing the compositions according to the requirements of PEC systems. Herein, optical and electrical properties of a novel III-V ternary alloy GaSbxP(1-x), synthesized in Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research by Halide Vapor Phase Epitaxy (HVPE) is reported. The effect of Sb addition on the band gap of the semiconductor was studied utilizing diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Band gap of HVPE-grown GaSbxP(1-x) film, with x=0.03-0.06 is decreased due to Sb incorporation to the lattice of GaP indicating that it can be a promising photoabsorber for PEC systems. In addition, incorporation of Sb to the lattice of GaP was estimated using Vegard’s law and X-ray diffraction spectrum of samples. Finally, resistivity and Hall effect measurements were performed to study the electrical properties of GaSbxP(1-x) films

MatchThem:: Matching and Weighting after Multiple Imputation

Balancing the distributions of the confounders across the exposure levels in an observational study through matching or weighting is an accepted method to control for confounding due to these variables when estimating the association between an exposure and outcome and to reduce the degree of dependence on certain modeling assumptions. Despite the increasing popularity in practice, these procedures cannot be immediately applied to datasets with missing values. Multiple imputation of the missing data is a popular approach to account for missing values while preserving the number of units in the dataset and accounting for the uncertainty in the missing values. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no comprehensive matching and weighting software that can be easily implemented with multiply imputed datasets. In this paper, we review this problem and suggest a framework to map out the matching and weighting multiply imputed datasets to 5 actions as well as the best practices to assess balance in these datasets after matching and weighting. We also illustrate these approaches using a companion package for R, MatchThem.Comment: 23 Pages, 3 Figure

A spatio-temporal geodatabase of mortalities due to respiratory tract diseases in Tehran, Iran between 2008 and 2018: a data note

Objectives Respiratory tract diseases (RTDs) are among the top five leading causes of death worldwide. Mortality rates due to respiratory tract diseases (MRRTDs) follow a spatial pattern and this may suggest a potential link between environmental risk factors and MRRTDs. Spatial analysis of RTDs mortality data in an urban setting can provide new knowledge on spatial variation of potential risk factors for RTDs. This will enable health professionals and urban planners to design tailored interventions. We aim to release the datasets of MRRTDs in the city of Tehran, Iran, between 2008 and 2018. Data description The Research data include four datasets; (a) mortality dataset which includes records of deaths and their attributes (age, gender, date of death and district name where death occurred), (b) population data for 22 districts (age groups with 5 years interval and gender by each district). Furthermore, two spatial datasets about the city are introduced; (c) the digital boundaries of districts and (d) urban suburbs of Tehran

Prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus in Rafsanjan: A comparison of different criteria

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is common during pregnancy. This survey was designed based on the frequency of GDM among an urban population according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the International Association of Diabetes and Pregnancy Study Groups (IADPSG) criteria. Methods: We included all pregnant women who were admitted to a gynecology clinic from September 2012 until May 2013. The fasting blood sugar (FBS) was measured. Those having FBS� 126 mg/dl were excluded from the study. All women underwent a standard OGTT (oral glucose tolerance test) by ingesting 75g of glucose in the 24th to 32nd week of their pregnancy. Results: Two hundred ninety pregnant women with a mean±SD age of 27.72±5.091 years were included in the study. The mean±SD FBS, blood glucose one hour and two hours after ingesting 75g of glucose were 82.48±9.41, 146.86±34.22 and 114.21±27.79 mg/ dl, respectively. Based on the criteria of the ADA, 9.3 (n= 27) of the admitted patients suffered from GDM. For the IADPSG and the WHO, those numbers were 31 (n= 90) and 15.2 (n= 44), respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of GDM was 1.5-times and 3 times higher when the IADPSG based data were compared to those of the WHO or the ADA

Effects of variety and plant spacing on weight, surface and yield of tobacco leaf (K326 and 347 Var.)

Tobacco is one of the important agricultural and industrial products which plays a crucial role in economics and income of the producing countries and tobacco’s leaves are actually used commercially. In this study, the effects of two tobacco varieties K326 and 347 in three plant spacing of 30, 40, and 50 cm (with density of 33333, 25000 and 20000 plants/ha) on physical properties and weight of tobacco leaves are discussed. The results of variance analysis showed that the ¬¬¬effects of variety and plant spacing on leaf surface in 5% level were significant. Interaction effect of these two factors wasn’t significant. Also results showed that independent and interaction effects of plant spacing and different varieties of tobacco on leaf weight were significant in %1 level. Overall, the mean comparison analysis indicated that weight of tobacco leaf was increased with increasing of plant spacing and this incensement in variety of 347 was more than that of K326 variety. The independent and interaction effects of plant spacing and different tobacco variety on yield were significant in %1 level. The highest and lowest amounts of tobacco yield were obtained for 347 variety in plant spacing of 30 cm and k326 variety in plant spacing of 50 cm, respectively. Generally, according to results the region conditions and economical values, tobacco variety 347 is recommended

A geodatabase of blood pressure level and the associated factors including lifestyle, nutritional, air pollution, and urban greenspace

OBJECTIVES: Hypertension is a prevalent chronic disease globally. A multifaceted combination of risk factors is associated with hypertension. Scientific literature has shown the association among individual and environmental factors with hypertension, however, a comprehensive database including demographic, environmental, individual attributes and nutritional status has been rarely studied. Moreover, an integrated spatial-epidemiological approach has been scarcely researched. Therefore, this study aims to provide and describe a geodatabase including individual-based and socio-environmental data related to people living in the city of Mashhad, Iran in 2018. DATA DESCRIPTION: The database has been extracted from the PERSIAN Organizational Cohort study in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. The data note includes three shapefiles and a help file. The shapefile format is a digital vector storage format for storing geometric location and associated attribute information. The first shapefile includes the data of population, air pollutants and amount of available green space for each census block of the city. The second shapefile consists of aggregated blood pressure data to the census blocks of the city. The third shapefile comprises the individual characteristics data (i.e., demographic, clinical, and lifestyle). Finally, the fourth file is a guide to the previous data files for users

Energy use pattern and sensitivity analysis of rice production: A case study of Guilane province of Iran

Rice is one of the most important crop supplying the world's population's food. Because of the direct links between energy and crop yields, and food supplies, rice energy analysis is essential. The objective of this study was to evaluate the energy balance between inputs and outputs of rice production in Guilane Province of Iran. Data were collected from 105 rice farmers with face to face questionnaire. A total energy input and output of 39.3 and 60.3 G J ha-1 was observed. Fertiliser and fuel were the highest energy inputs with amount of 14.1 and 11.6 G J ha-1, followed by electricity and seed with 5.2 and 3.1 G J ha-1, respectively. Energy use efficiency, energy productivity, specific energy and net energy were 1.57, 0.09, 11.20 and 21 G J ha-1, respectively. The share of non-renewable energy was almost 89%, while the direct and indirect energy usage based on inputs was approximately equal (49 and 51%, respectively). The econometric model showed that fuel and machinery had a significant effect on rice yield. The marginal physical productivity (MPP) value of fuel and machinery was 0.93 and 0.23, respectively. The total cost of production, gross and net returns were 3156, 1629 and 927 US ha-1, respectively. The benefit-cost ratio was calculated to be 1.29.Le riz est parmi d'importantes cultures qui fournissent de la nourriture aux populations du monde. A cause des liens directs entre l'\ue9nergie et les rendements de cultures, l'analyse de l'\ue9nergie pour le riz est primordial. L'objectif de cette \ue9tude \ue9tait d'\ue9valuer la balance \ue9nerg\ue9tique entre apports et sorties de la production du riz dans la Province de Guilane en Iran. De donn\ue9es \ue9taient recuillies de 105 riziculteurs \ue0 l'aide d'un questionnaire face \ue0 face. Un total d'apport et sortie d'\ue9nergie de 39.3 et 60.3 G J ha-1 \ue9tait respectivement observ\ue9. Les fertilisants et le carburant constituaient un apport plus \ue9lev\ue9 d'\ue9nergie de l'ordre de 14.1 et 11.6 G J ha-1 suivis de l'\ue9lecticit\ue9 et semence avec 5.2 et 3.1 G J ha-1, respectivement. L'utilisation efficiente de l'\ue9nergie, la productivit\ue9 de l'\ue9nergie, l'\ue9nergie sp\ue9cifique et l' \ue9nergie nette \ue9taient de 1.57, 0.09, 11.20 et 21 G J ha-1, respectivement. La part de l'\ue9nergie non renouvelable \ue9tait d'environ 89%, pendant que l'usage direct et indirect de l'\ue9nergie bas\ue9 sur les apports \ue9tait approximativement \ue9gal (49 et 51%, respectivement). Le mod\ue8le \ue9conom\ue9trique avait montr\ue9 que le carburant et les machines avaient 0.93 et 0.23, respectivement. Le co\ufbt total de production, le gros et le revenu net \ue9taient de 3156, 1629 et 927 US ha-1, respectivement. Le rapport co\ufbt-b\ue9n\ue9fice calcul\ue9 \ue9tait de 1.29