dr. a. khosravi

The field of autonomous vehicles (AV) has been the subject of extensive research in recent years. It is possible that AVs could contribute greatly to the quality of daily lives if they were implemented. A safe driver model that controls autonomous vehicles is required before this can be accomplished. Reinforcement Learning (RL) is one of the methods suitable for creating these models. In these circumstances, RL agents typically perform random actions during training, which poses a safety risk when driving an AV. To address this issue, shielding has been proposed. By predicting the future state after an action has been taken and determining whether the future state is safe, this shield determines whether the action is safe. For this purpose, reachable zonotopes must be provided, so that at each planning stage, the reachable set of vehicles does not intersect with any obstacles. To this end, we propose a Safe Reinforcement Learning by Shielding-based Reachable Zonotopes (SRLSRZ) approach. It is built around Twin Delayed DDPG (TD3) and compared with it. During training and execution, shielded systems have zero collision. their efficiency is similar to or even better than TD3. A shield-based learning approach is demonstrated to be effective in enabling the agent to learn not to propose unsafe actions. Simulated results indicate that a car vehicle with an unsafe set adjacent to the area that provides the greatest reward performs better when SRLSRZ is used as compared with other methods that are currently considered to be state-of-the-art for achieving safe RL.

Product diversification is a common strategy used by economic enterprises to reduce risk, increase brand strength, maintain market dominance, optimize resource utilization, and increase income and profitability. Although diversification is not a new concept, there is a need for studies that quantitatively analyze the diversification process in more detail. This study aims to categorize products for insurance companies into three groups: competitive or active products, products with competitive potential or active potential, and products without competitive potential or inactive potential. In addition, the study aims to determine the order of potentially active products using greedy, maximum, high grade, low grade and combined strategies to improve the diversification of insurance activities within companies.

The present study uses an analytical-descriptive approach in terms of method and a practical approach in terms of purpose. First, the study calculates the revealed relative advantage using five-year average data (2017-2021) of insurance premiums of 29 analyzed companies in 16 areas of insurance activities. It then assesses the diversity of insurance companies by creating a company-product matrix. This matrix is used to calculate the proximity index and visualize the network of insurance products within the country. The product space of the 29 insurance companies is mapped and the position of each company is determined based on the number of different products, diversifiable products and non-diversifiable products. The study then calculates the probability of diversification for products that do not have a relative advantage. Finally, the study uses network science to determine the prioritization of products for diversification and competitiveness based on different strategies.

The study found that each of the 29 companies studied had different levels of competitive potential in offering insurance activities. A product space encompassing all insurance companies was visualized, and a roadmap for diversifying the scope of insurance activities of these companies based on different strategies was established by applying network science.

Privatization of the Iranian insurance industry started in 2002 and had a significant impact on the structure of the industry and the behavior of the companies. Product diversification is proving to be a key strategy for insurance companies seeking to increase their competitiveness and profitability. In this study, the number of different products offered by the 29 insurance companies was calculated. It was found that Alborz Insurance Company has the greatest product diversity with 10 products, while the Middle East, Kish, Asmari and Qeshm insurance companies have the least diversity with only one product each. In the study, the insurance products were categorized into active, potentially active and inactive products based on the relative advantage or inactivity of the companies. The product space of the 29 insurance companies was mapped to identify active, potentially active and inactive products. Using path network science and a roadmap, the study identified diversification strategies for insurance companies based on four main approaches: Maximum strategy, greedy strategy, high degree strategy, low degree strategy and a combined strategy (using Berda and Copeland''s methods). The maximum strategy prioritized the products with the strongest links to active products at each stage. For example, New Trade Insurance Company selected life insurance as the top priority for diversification, followed by other types of insurance and driver and liability accident insurance. The greedy strategy selected the products with the highest probability of activation in order of shortest activation time in each phase. The high-grade strategy focused on selecting products with the most connections to other products in the network for diversification, while the low-grade strategy opted for products with the fewest network connections for activation in each stage. The high-level and maximum strategies prioritized activities that would increase competitiveness and allow more products to compete in the product network in the future. Conversely, the greedy and low-degree strategies could lead to lower competitiveness in future activities. The study suggests that the path and roadmap for product diversification may vary across insurance companies, so they may pursue short-term strategies (greedy and low degree), long-term strategies (high degree and maximum), or a combination of both.If one opts for a greedy strategy with a low degree, it is less likely to be competitive in the product network in the future.

Although tools for measuring job burnout have been psychometrically tested in Iran, it seems crucial to have an instrument that can be used by the general society. The Covid-19 burnout scale (COVID-19-BS) is the only tool available to assess the burnout following Covid-19 in the general population. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to determine and examine the psychometric properties of the Iranian version of the Covid-19 Burnout Scale (COVID-19-BS).

The present cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in 2021 on 137 participants in Yasuj, Iran. After the linguistic validation of the Iranian version of COVID-19-BS, the panel of experts evaluated the questionnaire questions by evaluating the content validity index (CVI) and content validity ratio (CVR). At that point, a semi-structured interview was conducted to assess face validity. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were performed to show the constructs of the questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was measured using the internal consistency test and test-retest analysis. The collected data were analyzed using Cronbach's alpha, Pearson's correlation coefficient, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.

Content Validity Index (CVI) and Content Validity Ratio (CVR) for COVID-19-BS were 0.90 and 0.94, respectively. A two-factor structure (physical and mental burnout symptoms) appeared in the EFA test, which was responsible for 67.51% of the observed variance. CFA results for the extracted two-factor structure showed an acceptable fit. Also, acceptable results were shown for internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha from 0.89 to 0.73) and intraclass correlation coefficients (between 0.72 and 0.80).

The results of the present study indicated a favorable preliminary psychometric test of COVID-19-BS in the Iranian population. The COVID-19-BS questionnaire is the first valid questionnaire in Farsi language regarding job burnout following Covid-19 in the general population, which may be useful for other Farsi-speaking countries that are exposed to job burnout due to Covid-19.

The main purpose of this research is the customer experience management model in personal insurance.

To achieve this goal, first the effective factors and indicators affecting the management of customer experience in personal insurance based on the data model of the foundation are identified and then these factors and indicators are categorized. Case study and semi-structured interviews with experts and professors led to the development of research model criteria. Based on the interviews conducted and reviewing previous studies, the factors affecting human resource development strategies in domestic and foreign categories have been identified.

A total of 17 categories and 104 concepts were identified and extracted, and finally the consequences, results and results of strategies or actions are reactions. In total, the model obtained in the present study consists of 6 dimensions, 17 components and 104 indicators, respectively. In this study, the category of "customer experience management model in personal insurance" is mentioned in almost all interviews and plays a pivotal role. Causal conditions In the proposed model, the six central codes of "time management", "cost management", "leisure management", "appropriate decision making", "welfare and comfort" and "social conditions" are considered as causal conditions.

The final finding and achievement of the present study is a relatively comprehensive and complete model based on the customer experience management model in personal insurance and is more appropriate than other models provided by experts in that they have been developed for non-service communities.

Previous studies have shown that Autophagy (lysosome-dependent self-degradation) is upregulated in white adipose tissue of obese subjects. Autophagy-related proteins i.e ATG5 and ATG7 play an essential role in the early stage of the autophagic process. On the other hand, it was found that exercise training modified the bad regulation and maladaptation of white adipose tissue by many molecular mechanisms. Therefore, a question remains to be elucidated whether exercise training can modulate the upregulation of Autophagy induced by a high-fat diet and Autophagy seen in obese subjects. Thus, the present study aimed to survey the effect of regular exercise training on gene expressions of ATG5 and ATG7 in white adipose tissue of mice fed a high-fat diet.

Twenty-one C57BL/6 male mice (age of four weeks; Approximate body weight of 12 grams) were purchased from the experimental and comparative studies center of Iran University of Medical Sciences. The mice were randomly assigned to three groups: Control (C, n=7), 2) High-fat diet (HFD, n=7), and  High-fat diet with exercise training (HFD-ET, n=7). The mice of the HFD group were fed a high-fat diet (42% kcal of fat) for 12 weeks. The mice of the HFD-ET group were submitted to continuous running on a treadmill for six weeks along with feeding HFD. After the experiment, mice were sacrificed, and visceral adipose tissue pads (epididymal fat) were surgically collected. The Real-Time–PCR methods were used to measure the mRNA expression of ATG5 and ATG7. Data of research were statically analyzed by One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey's post hoc test.

Results:

 Data showed that the mRNA expression of ATG5 and ATG7 were higher over two-fold in the HFD group as compared to the control group (p<0.05). Further, the mRNA expression of these genes was higher in the HFD-ET group compared to the control group (p<0.01). Interestingly, the mRNA expression of ATG7 was 1.5 fold higher in the HFD-ET group compared to the HFD group (p<0.05). However, the mRNA expression of ATG5 was not significantly changed in the HFD-ET group as compared to the HFD group (p>0.05).

Conclusion:

These results indicate that long-term feeding high-fat diet causes upregulating of the gene expression of key factors involved in the early stage of the autophagy process (i.e ATG5 and ATG7). Regular exercise training could augment the HFD-induced upregulation of ATG7 gene expression. However, it could not change the HFD-induced upregulation of ATG5 gene expression. Based on the results could be speculated that exercise training accompanied by a high-fat diet may more stimulate the autophagy mechanism in white adipose tissue, probably resulting in a positive adaptation in white adipose tissue development.

The purpose of this study is to identify the factors that lead to the customer loyalty of Rubber Shareholder Customers. This study is an applied type of research due to the purpose, with a descriptive survey approach due to data. Statistical population of this research contains Iranian Capital Market investors and activists in the fall 1995. Sampling was done randomly by distributing a questionnaire consisting of 18 questions among 385 investors. For data analysis, multivariate regression analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient have been used. The results indicate that there is a positive and significant relationship between customer satisfaction, brand image and switching costs with customer loyalty. In addition, among the mentioned factors, customer satisfaction has the most impact in terms of customer loyalty. The results are corresponded with the findings of previous studies, in relation to customer loyalty of service industries. The managers of the stock brokerage companies can use these results in order to improve customer relations and increase their loyalty.

Water plays a vital role in human life, affecting not only the functioning of the body but also other human rights. For this reason, in recent decades, international bodies, including the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by approving Comment No. 15, have identified the access to water as a human right. But it is not easy to enjoy this right because of limited water resources, its non-availability, contaminated surface waters and the like, and it always creates problems for people, their families and even the community. Governments as the primary bound of this right have also sought to privatize water, because of the expense involved in collecting, storing and supplying water. But the question that arises is that, given that privatization leads to commercialization and economization of water, can it meet the characteristics and requirements of the right to water? Although there is no single global or regional model for this, the paper attempts to answer this question first by examining the nature and characteristics and requirements of the right to water from the perspective of international documents, especially the interpretative theory, and then characteristics and nature of privatization in this regard.

Considering the high contribution of unintentional accidents to mortality, particularly in males in Iran, and their changes over the last decade, a study was conducted to review the share of deaths due to unintentional accidents in sex difference in life expectancy at birth in the country over the last decades.

The mortality data for the years 2006 to 2015 were obtained from the Ministry of Health and Medical Education. Then, the child mortality was corrected using the intercensal generational method and adult mortality was corrected for underreporting based on the Bennett-Horiuchi method. The contribution of mortality changes due to unintentional accidents to increase in females’ life expectancy was calculated using the ARIAGA decomposition method.

The sex differential in life expectancy was about 3.5 years in 2006 in Iran, which decreased to 2.9 years in 2011 and increased to 3 years in in 2015. The unintentional accidents in all three periods played a dominant role in sex differential mortality, but its contribution over time was significantly reduced, with a contribution of 60% to around 42% between 2006 and 2015.

Due to the slowdown in the increase in life expectancy at birth in Iran in recent decades, attention to differential mortality, including sex difference in mortality and identification of potentials to increase life expectancy according to different groups, can increase life expectancy.

The plastic products industry comprises a wide range of products from basic products to intermediate and final products. The expansion and application of plastic products in various industries, as well as the satisfaction of the needs of households, has made this industry one of the main industries and its export diversification is important for the countries. Using new structuralists approach, product space theory and product network science, this paper uses six-digit HS codes for 128 countries over the period 2018-2014 to represent the increase in the diversity of Iranian exports in the plastics industry and determine their sequence of activation. The findings indicate that out of 122 plastic product codes, Iran has 14 products that have an revealed comparative advantage in exports, 47 products with a implied comparative advantage, and 61 products with no revealed and implied comparative advantage. In the next step, considering the positive opportunity gain index, products with implied comparative advantage were reduced from 47 to 12. Finally, using different strategies and applying a combined strategy of Borda and Copeland methods, the activation sequence of these 12 products were identified. According to the combined strategy, the export of rigid polyvinyl chloride pipes, ethylene polymer bags and flexible plastic pipes constitute the major part of Iran's export opportunities.

The current work proposed a novel fuzzy-based multi-criteria decision-making method to assess the development potential of wind power plants in a country. Type-2 fuzzy logic was utilized to investigate the simultaneous effects of several technical criteria such as wind conditions, ambient temperature, and dust activities in a site. Iran was chosen as the case study, considering the various environmental conditions and the lack of thorough investigations in the country. The proposed method could be easily extended to apply to any region. The related technical data for all the 559 Synoptic meteorological stations in the country were collected and used as the inputs for the proposed method. Applying two-step interviews with local experts and reviewing the literature, the leading indicators and their effectiveness were defined. After developing the fuzzy rules and sets, all the sites were scored and ranked using type-2 fuzzy logic in the proposed method. Based on the final standings, priority tables were provided and the top fifty sites for implementing offshore and onshore wind power plants were introduced. Moreover, primary analysis of the collected data indicated that the provinces with high energy consumption and high PM 2.5 levels are in critical environmental conditions. Thus, these provinces need strict attention and planning for sustainable energy supply using renewable energy systems. Based on the results, several recommendations and suggestions were also mentioned to organize investment resources for a more efficient and proper power plant development as well as future studies.

During pregnancy, women have expectations of their future baby, and preterm delivery may negatively affect such expectations. On the other hand, postpartum maternal stress is a well-established issue, which intensifies with the birth of a premature infant. Preterm birth is an unexpected experience and a multifaceted incident that leads to two main consequences, which are the medical and neurophysiological complications of the infant (especially in very-low-birth-weight infants weighing less than 1,500 grams and aged less than 32 weeks) and the adverse effects on the mother-infant relationship due to the prolonged admission of the infant to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). If the infant is not discharged, the mother will be unable to fully assume their maternal role. Therefore, proper intervention protocols help reduce maternal stress and empower mothers to cope with the complex and technological environment of the NICU. The present study aimed to evaluate the impact of evidence-based early supportive interventions on the maternal stress caused by preterm birth.

This quasi-experimental study was performed at the NICUs of Mahdieh Hospital and Shahid Akbarabadi Hospital in Tehran, Iran. Sampling started on February 14, 2016 and continued until May 14, 2016. Both centers were teaching, referral hospitals with three levels of NICUs. NICU level one is designed for generally ill and low-birth-weight infants who do not require intensive care (minimal care and basic care following delivery), NICU level two is considered for the infants who need other intensive care than ventilator support and surgical care, and NICU level three is designed for the critically ill infants who require life-sustaining therapies, particularly auxiliary ventilation and optimally tailored neonatal intensive care. In this study, the hospitals were considered as random allocation units, with Mahdieh Hospital assigned to the intervention site and Shahid Akbarabadi Hospital assigned to the control site. The sample population included mothers with premature infants. Preterm infants and their mothers were selected within three months based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the study. The inclusion criteria were having an infant with the gestational age of less than 37 weeks, birth weight less than 2,500 grams, and high probability of survival, maternal consent for enrollment, Iranian nationality, and the ability to communicate verbally. The exclusion criteria were infants with abnormalities or severe debilitative conditions (e.g., grade III or IV intraventricular hemorrhage). During the study period, 75 mothers and infants were classified as the intervention group, and 68 mothers and infants were assigned to the control group. The intervention was designed based on the model of the support system of mothers with premature infants. In this model, parents and infants are at the center of the support model and should be supported during critical transitional periods, including pre-fertilization, before delivery, NICU admission, discharge, and at home. Based on the model, various interventions were provided to the mothers at the NICUs, which gradually started upon the admission of the premature infant to the NICU, continued throughout the admission, followed-up the subjects until three months since the birth of the infant. In the intervention group, the mothers were provided with continuous informational support (emphasis on the continuous provision of information to the mothers about the infantschr('39') illness, treatment, growth and care, infantschr('39') emotional and behavioral needs and responses, and maternal rights and responsibilities during admission). Furthermore, we provided spiritual support (in an illness crisis, spirituality may be essential to coping and have a positive impact on the response of individuals since reliance upon a higher power could become a source of hope for a positive outcome. Fostering spiritual values protects individualschr('39') integrity and gains spiritual perseverance to encounter hardships), appraisal support (strengthening and supporting the maternal role and encouraging mothers to strengthen their relationship with their infants and actively partake in their care since doing their best in the care of the infant makes them feel better. In fact, encouraging mothers to participate in care of preterm infants allows them to conceive their maternal role), and emotional support (addressing the feelings and concerns of the mothers and showing concern for their health and the health of the newborn so that they could adopt to the infantchr('39')s illness and the other affected aspects of their lives). The control group received routine care. Upon discharge, maternal stress was measured using the parental stressor scale: neonatal intensive care unit (PSS-NICU). The main sources of maternal stress included the NICU environment, infantchr('39')s appearance, special behaviors of treatment of the infant, mother-infant relationship, and maternal role. Data analysis was performed in the STATA software version 13 using t-test, Chi-square, and inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW).

After adjusting the pre-treatment variables by the IPTW, the mean difference in the adjusted stress score regarding the NICU environment was estimated at 0.55 (range: 0.89-0.2) (P<0.001), while it was 0.37 (range: 0.68-0.06) regarding the changes in the maternal role (P=0.02), and 0.29 (-0.43-0.37) regarding the infantchr('39')s appearance and behavior and treatment of the infant (P=0.89). In addition, the total stress score was estimated at 0.25 (range: 0.58-0.07) regarding the NICU environment (P=0.13), and the stress score of the intervention group was significantly lower compared to the control group regarding the changes in the maternal role.

For the successful implementation of interventions designed based on scientific evidence and facilities, it is suggested that policy-makers implement these evidence-based interventions to improve the quality of care of premature infants and reduce maternal stress in the form of family-centered support models in NICUs. Furthermore, it is recommended that similar investigations be performed on fathers. Although the results of this study confirmed the effects of the intervention on reducing maternal stress regarding the technological NICU environment and changes in the maternal role, it may not lead to the significant reduction of total stress and stress about infantschr('39') appearance, behavior, and treatment in mothers. As such, detailed studies should be conceived based on effective interventions in this regard.

 Mitochondrial creatine kinase involves in UCP-independent thermogenesis. It isthought that the agent can be affected by nutrition and exercise. The aim of this study was to investigate the long-term effect of high fat diet and regular aerobic exercise training on gene expression of mitochondrial creatine kinase 1 (CKmt1) and mitochondrial creatine kinase 2 (CKmt2) in white adipose tissue of mice.

 In this experimental study, 28 male C57BL/6 mice were divide into four groups including control (n=7), high fat diet (HFD) (n=7), exercise training (ET) (n=7) and HFD-exercise training (HFD-ET) (n=7). The subjects of the HFD groups were fed a high-fat diet (fat: %40) for a period of 12 weeks. The subjects of the training groups underwent continuous training for six weeks. The Real Time–PCR method was used to measure the expression levels of the Ckmt1and Ckmt2 genes. The two-way ANOVA was applied to analyze data.

 Data showed that the HFD (p=0.324) and ET (p=0.136) did not significantly affect the gene expression level of CKmt1. However, the gene expression level of CKmt2 was significantly decreased and increased by HFD and ET versus high fat diet group, respectively (p=0.043; p=0.001, respectively).

The findings of this study indicated that the long term feeding of high fat diet and regular aerobic training could probably affect the non-shivering thermogenesis at white adipose tissue by decreasing and increasing the expression of mitochondrial creatine kinase 2 (CKmt2), respectively. 

Sensitivity analysis (SA) is a vital task for decision making in economic management. In this paper, a novel fuzzy sensitivity analyzer (FSA) is proposed to analyze the sensitivity of economic variables. The proposed FSA algorithm consists of an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) that is adjusted for forecasting economic time series. Based on the output of ANFIS, FSA can determine the importance degree of parameters. In the numerical studies, the proposed method is applied for the sensitivity analysis of oil and gold time series. According to the results, FSA indicates that oil price is highly dependent upon the inflation rate, dollar index and market index while OPEC production level and gold price have less impact. Furthermore, in the gold price modeling, the highest sensitivity is obtained from silver price while demand for gold is more a function of market index and inflation rate. The proposed method can be used in many SA applications.

A large proportion of the data of cause of death is registered in hospitals in Iran. Assessment of the death data can help to identify the problems of cause of death registration system and improve it. Therefore, this study was conducted to review the quality of cause of death registration in Iranian hospitals in 2016.

All hospital deaths in 2016 were reviewed and classified by age group and sex using the Ministry of Health’s death registration system. Analysis of Causes of National Deaths for Action (ANACONDA) was used to evaluate the quality of the data of cause of death.

About 24% of the recorded hospital deaths were assigned to garbage code categories. The highest percentage of this group was seen in the age group over 70 years old and the highest percentage of well-defined causes of death was seen in the age group below one year. Moreover, among the five groups of garbage code causes of death, the group with insufficient details of the cause of death based on ICD classification had the highest percentage in all age groups.

Since a substantial proportion of the causes of deaths registered in the Iranian hospitals are categorized in the garbage code categories and cannot be used for planning and health policy making, it is necessary to design a comprehensive plan to implement interventions such as implementation of process evaluation programs and training programs for physicians and coders.

Caraway (Carum carvi) is one of the medicinal plants which is traditionally used for weight loss. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effect of 6 weeks aerobic training and aqueous extract of caraway seed (carum carvi) on expression of CTRP12 gene, body weight changes and subcutaneous adipose tissue in obese male rats.

In this experimental study, 24 fat male rats were provided a high-fat diet for 12 weeks to induce obesity, following which they were divided randomly into four groups: 1. high-fat control diet, 2. high-fat diet+ exercise, 3. high-fat diet+caraway, 4. high-fat diet+exercise+caraway. The training groups performed aerobic exercise 5 days in week for 6 weeks (approximately 50-70% VO2max). Relative expression of CTRP12 mRNA was measured using real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR), body weight changes and subcutaneous adipose tissue. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s post hoc test.

Relative expression of CTRP12 mRNA significantly increased after 6 weeks of aerobic training and consumption of carum carvi extract in group 4 compared to groups 1 and 3, in group 1 compared to group 2, and animal weight and subcutaneous fat weight in groups 4, 3 and 2 significantly decreased compared to group 1.

Considering the results of the present study, it is recommended to use moderate aerobic exercise and carum carvi to reduce the risk of obesity and weight.

In this study, the civil responcble of the shipmaster, hereafter master, in Iranian maritime law, Hague convention, and Rotrdom convention are studed and compared. Althou, Iran approved its maritme law in full compliance with Hague Treaty, hence, it never joined subsequent maritime treaties, such as The HagueWiesbad, Hamburg and Rotterdam. Since the master is one of the maritime carrier brokers, any responsibility that he has is also transferred to the maritime carrier. There is a difference of view on the basis of the responsibility of the maritime carrier (and consequently, in many cases, the master) in the Hague Treaty; some find it to be faultbased and the others to liability. The second group's point of view is emphasized in this study. One of the highlights of current study is that Iranian maritime law, derived from Hague regulations, provides masters to be exempt unconventionally from some of his responsibilities, while In the Rotterdam Convention, by limiting the exemptions of the maritime carrier and clarifying the scope of his responsibilities, the rights of consignors are more complied with in the context of today's technical facts.

Dipeptidyl-peptidase-4 (DPP-4) has been proposed as a bridge between obesity and insulin resistance (IR). The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in serum levels of DPP-4 and HOMA2-IR after eight weeks of interval and continuous-walking in 9-11 year-old obese girls. thirty two-obese girls (age: 9.62±0.75 years and BMI-percentile: 97.38±1.40%) volunteered in this study and were assigned to interval (n=12), continuous (n=11) and control (n=9) groups. The training were performed for 8-weeks, 3-sessions per week (30-min walking in the continuous and interval groups with 60-75%HRmax and 70-85%HRmax, respectively). Interval-walking included 2-min of walking and 1-min of active rest. After 10-hours of fasting, blood sampling was performed before the beginning of training and 72-hours after the last session. The paired t-test was used to examine the within-group changes. Eight weeks of continuous and interval training did not significantly change the levels of DPP-4, insulin, glucose, and HOMA2-IR compared to the control group. Compared to the control group, the interval training resulted in improvement of the body weight, BMI, and BMI percentile (p=0.004, p=0.019, p=0.022), while the BMI only tended to decrease in the continuous training group (p=0.077). It seems that the improvement of the body composition due to the protocol used in this study was not sufficient to make significant changes in the HOMA2-IR and DPP-4 in early-pubertal obese girls.

Angiopoietin-like proteins that be involved in the regulation of lipid metabolism, can be potentially utilized in therapies for metabolic syndrome. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of eight weeks intermittent and continuous exercise training on serum angiopoietin-like protein 8 levels and lipid profile in 9-11 years old obese girls. Thirty students aged 9 to 11 years old with a percentile of body mass index more than 90% were randomly assigned to control (n = 9), continuous training (n = 11), and intermittent exercise (12). The exercises included eight weeks of continuous and intermittent walking (3 sessions per week). The subjects underwent continuous training in the first four weeks with 60-75% HRmax and in the second four weeks with of 70-75% HRmax, and subjects with intermittent exercises in the first four weeks with intensity of 75-80% HRmax and in the second four weeks with of 80-85% HRmax. Serum levels of ANGPTL8, HDL, LDL, TG, TC and glucose was measured in pre-test and post-test. The results of this study showed that in the intermittent group, ANGPTL8, TC, glucose increased (p< 0.05), and BMI and percentile of body mass index decreased (p<0.05). In the continuous group, the levels of ANGPTL8 and TC increased (p< 0.05) and BMI decreased (p<0.05). Comparison between groups showed that glucose and ANGPTL8 were not significantly different in two groups. The increased of angiopoietin-like protein 8 after eight weeks of continuous and intermittent exercises was independent of the type of exercise. It seems that, one of the main reasons  is the increase of glucose and TC, which suggests the therapeutic potential of angiopoietin-like protein 8 in reducing these factors by inhibiting it.

In this paper we get some results and applications for duals and approximate duals of g-frames in Hilbert spaces. In particular, we consider the stability of duals and approximate duals under bounded operators and we study duals and approximate duals of g-frames in the direct sum of Hilbert spaces. We also obtain some results for perturbations of approximate duals.

Most patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) do not respond to existing treatments. It seems that the pathogenesis is not fully understood. Trying to clear this condition، scientists have focused on the role of mast cells in the pathogenesis of IBS and many gastrointestinal disorders.

After taking history including demographic، clinical، familial and personal history of 57 patients with diarrhea-predominant IBS (criteria ROME III) colonoscopy done and in case of normal colonoscopy، samples of left and right colon were taken. Overall 48 samples could be retrieved. Immunohistochemical staining for mast cell tryptase was done and mast cells were counted. The prevalence of patients with mast cells > 20 / HPF was determined. The patients were divided into three categories: < 10/HPF، 10- 20 and > 20 / HPF and symptoms of three groups were compared. In addition to their traditional treatment regimen، all patients received Ranitidine and Cetrizine. Clinical responses were also compared in the three groups.

A total of 3 out of 48 patients (5. 8%) had >20 mast cells in each HPF (mastocytic enterocolitis). Distribution and severity of clinical symptoms of the patients in three groups were not significantly different. Respond to treatment with antihistamines was not significantly different in each of these groups of patients.

Mastocytic enterocolitis in our patients was not as frequent as other studies. Mast cells count was not associated with clinical symptoms.

The present research studies feasibility, validity, reliability and norm finding of Sternberg-Wagner’s thinking styles questionnaire on personnel of Gas Company of Khorasan Razavi province and its relation with job satisfaction. Sample group of the size of 194 subjects was selected by randomized method. Thinking styles questionnaire rated on the basis of 7-point Likert scale, including 104 items, and job satisfaction questionnaire rated on the basis of 5-point Likert scale, including 37 items were administered. Validities of thinking styles and job satisfaction questionnaires as calculated by general formula of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient were 0.995 and 0.936, respectively; and no item of the questionnaires was omitted. Principal components analysis method was used to study reliability of the structure. The results of factor analysis show that 13 extracted factors account for 55% of the total variables variance. These 13 factors include executive, innovative, outward looking, holistic, judgmental, hierarchic, oligarchic, legislative, conservative, individualist, liberal and inward looking. Other results extracted are as follows: the personnel of the Gas Company are satisfied with their job, and hierarchic, innovative and liberal have 0.314, 0.149 and 0.140 correlations with job satisfaction, and other styles has not any correlation. Also, different organizational areas, education level and work experience have no impact on job satisfaction of personnel.

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of using protexin، propionic acid growth promoters، and a blend of them on broilers performance. In a completely randomized design، three hundreds and twenty unsexed 1-d-old chicks were divided into four groups. Dietary treatments were consisted of 1) control diet without any supplement، 2) the control diet + 0. 01 % protexin، 3) the control diet + 0. 2 % propionic acid، 4) the control diet + 0. 01 % protexin + 0. 02 % propionic acid. Body weight gain and feed intake were measured weekly. In the first week، the use of protexin and propionic acid increased body weight. In the fourth week، the group fed a diet supplemented with propionic acid had lower feed intake and feed conversion ratio than the others groups. In the fifth week، the broilers fed with protexin and a blend of protexin and propionic acid had better feed conversion ratio compared to the others experimental units. The birds fed with all of the feed additives، especially propionic acid، had betted energy intake and energy efficiency ratio than control diet. Based on the results of this experiment، these feed additives، especially propionic acid، can be suggested as suitable growth promoters in broiler chickens nutrition.

In this research, novel hybrid nanocomposite containing iron modified titanium dioxide and tetraisoindole organic pigment has been synthesized and characterized. Modified nanoparticles and hybrid nanocomposite have been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), FT-IR spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, BET surface area determination, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, simultaneous thermal analysis (TG, DTA) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results confirmed the formation of the hybrid nanocomposite containing iron modified titanium dioxide and tetraisoindole organic pigment with the pure anatase phase. The TEM micrograph displayed that particle sizes of the hybrid nanocomposite were about 25 nm. The band gap energy of the hybrid nanocomposite was about 2.53 eV that has been decreased significantly in comparison with modified titanium dioxide nanoparticles (3.10 eV) and pure titanium dioxide (3.66 eV). Hence, synthesized hybrid nanocomposite with absorption edge in the visible region is much appropriate for optical applications of photocatalyst and photovoltaic under solar light irradiation.

Technology Education and its promotion in public education is considered as one of important factors towards development of a country. During recent decades a field of study referred to as technology education, offered at different academic levels including four year college, MA and doctorate levels, has been initiated in developed countries within the context of an interdisciplinary education. As a Scientific and research discipline Technology Education promotes the technological literacy of learners to cope with their needs by manipulating the materials through experimental techniques and innovative approaches. According to psychological researches, technology education as an intelligent discipline organizes the mind of learners through problem solving and creativity promotion skills to impact their surrounding environments. In terms of educational philosophy, technology education beyond its role in development of certain skills is an approach to improve the attitude of learners regarding the reciprocal affects of technology and sociocultural affairs. Technology training as a course offering along with general education is initiated from the preschool and continues to higher education by special technology resources and professional teachers. With the help of technology education, methods of problem solving, innovative approaches and all useful and effective habits and life skills are taught. Technology training whether as a separate discipline or as an integrated with general public education, is enriched with scientific, philosophical and psychological bases. In this paper while describing some of these bases, we try to draw the attention of technology policy makers, curriculum developers and educationalists towards technological training.

The chitosan emulsion containing nano-particles has been prepared in a suspension form by adding drop-wise sodium polyphosphate (SPP) solution into a chitosan solution (CS). The results showed that the adsorption of C. I. Reactive Blue 19 (RB19) on chitosan emulsion was affected by contact time، initial dye concentration، pH، and temperature. For an initial dye concentration of 160ppm and 25°C in the optimum conditions (pH=4، [CS] / [SPP] =2. 85)، the chitosan nano-emulsion has much higher dye adsorption capacity. The RB19 removal in optimum condition was 60% and 100% for conventional chitosanand chitosan nano-emulsion respectively.