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Introduction and Objective: Ethical practice is a vital aspect of nursing interventions. Complying with the ethical aspects of the intervention procedure in a stressful nursing environment is not easy and nurse managers always face ethical challenges which are in conflict with their personal values and norms. Identifying and solving these challenges improves the efficiency and effectiveness of nursing care activities. Therefore, this research was done to explain the ethical challenges of nurse managers and practical solutions from their perspective. Material and Method: It is a qualitative study that was carried out based on the phenomenological method in 2022. The participants of this study were 20 nurse managers of Arak hospitals who were selected by purposive sampling until data saturation. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews for 30 to 90 minutes. Data collection was carried out with the participant's consent, using a digital recording device and verbatim transcription, and then it was analyzed using Van Manen's six-step hermeneutic phenomenological approach. Findings: The results of this study could provide a clear picture of ethical challenges and their practical solutions from the nurse managers' perspective in the form of four themes of managerial ethical challenges which include challenges facing physicians, organizations, employees, managers, and three themes for practical solutions, including organizational solutions, interpersonal solutions, and educational solutions which were manifested. Conclusion: Nurse managers are always faced with ethical challenges in their daily activities. To deal with these challenges, they must be familiar with the rules and principles of professional ethics, practical standards, and laws related to patients' rights. Ethical principles and awareness of the ethical decision-making process are useful and effective in having capable and ethical nurses who provide competent care. To deal with ethical challenges, it is suggested to consider self-care strategies and structural and specialized support in each center, which will ultimately lead to the improvement of service quality and the promotion of ethics in care-treatment environments.

Background: Nurses working in intensive care units (ICUs) are more in direct contact with COVID-19 patients than other healthcare team members and are more vulnerable to mental disorders. This study aimed to determine the general health status, posttraumatic stress disorder, and coping strategies of nurses employed in the COVID-19 intensive care units. Methods: It was a cross-sectional descriptive study. Using the census method, 102 nurses working in the COVID-19 intensive care units of Iran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran, were recruited as the sample in 2022. The general health questionnaire (GHQ-28), the impact of events-revised (IES-R), and the ways of coping questionnaire (WCQ) were used as research instruments. The data were analyzed using the Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t-test, and analysis of variance in SPSS software, version 16. The significance level was set at P0.05). Conclusion: Most nurses experienced mental disorders (general health disorders and posttraumatic stress) during the COVID-19 pandemic. To reduce the psychological impact of COVID-19 on nurses, paying attention to their mental health is essential. Given the adverse effect of COVID-19 on nurses, studying the relationship between these variables and the quality of nurses’ performance is suggested.

BackgroundBreast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women globally. The North Africa and Middle East (NAME) region is coping hard with the burden of BC. We aimed to present the latest epidemiology of BC and its risk factors in this region.MethodsWe retrieved the data on BC burden and risk factors from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 to describe BC status in the 21 countries of the NAME region from 1990 to 2019. We explored BC incidence, prevalence, deaths, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and attributable burden to seven risk factors of female BC, namely, alcohol use, diet high in red meat, low physical activity, smoking, secondhand smoke, high body mass index, and high fasting plasma glucose. Decomposition analysis on BC incidence trend was done to find out the contributing factors to this cancer’s growth.ResultsIn 2019, there were 835,576 (95% uncertainty interval: 741,968 to 944,851) female and 10,938 (9,030 to 13,256) male prevalent cases of BC in the NAME region. This number leads to 35,405 (30,676 to 40,571) deaths among female patients and 809 (654 to 1,002) deaths in male patients this year. BC was responsible for 1,222,835 (1,053,073 to 1,411,009) DALYs among female patients in 2019, with a greater proportion (94.9%) of burden in years of life lost (YLLs). The major contributor to female BC incidence increase in the past three decades was found to be increase in age-specific incidence rates of BC (227.5%), compared to population growth (73.8%) and aging (81.8%). The behavioral risk factors were responsible for majority of attributable female BC burden (DALYs: 106,026 [66,614 to 144,247]). High fasting plasma glucose was found to be the risk factor with the largest effect (DALYs: 84,912 [17,377 to 192,838]) on female BC burden.ConclusionThe increasing incidence and burden of BC in the NAME region is remarkable, especially when considering limited resources in the developing countries of this region. Proper policies like expanding screening programs and careful resource management are needed to effectively manage BC burden.

Summary: Background: The objective of this study is to investigate the trends of exposure and burden attributable to the four main metabolic risk factors, including high systolic blood pressure (SBP), high fasting plasma glucose (FPG), high body-mass index (BMI), and high low-density lipoproteins cholesterol (LDL) in North Africa and the Middle East from 1990 to 2019. Methods: The data were retrieved from Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. Summary exposure value (SEV) was used for risk factor exposure. Burden attributable to each risk factor was incorporated in the population attributable fraction to estimate the total attributable deaths and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs). Findings: While age-standardized death rate (ASDR) attributable to high-LDL and high-SBP decreased by 26.5% (18.6–35.2) and 23.4% (15.9–31.5) over 1990–2019, respectively, high-BMI with 5.1% (−9.0–25.9) and high-FPG with 21.4% (7.0–37.4) change, grew in ASDR. Moreover, age-standardized DALY rate attributed to high-LDL and high-SBP declined by 30.2% (20.9–39.0) and 25.2% (16.8–33.9), respectively. The attributable age-standardized DALY rate of high-BMI with 8.3% (−6.5–28.8) and high-FPG with 27.0% (14.3–40.8) increase, had a growing trend. Age-standardized SEVs of high-FPG, high-BMI, high-SBP, and high-LDL increased by 92.4% (82.8–103.3), 76.0% (58.9–99.3), 10.4% (3.8–18.0), and 5.5% (4.3–7.1), respectively. Interpretation: The burden attributed to high-SBP and high-LDL decreased during the 1990–2019 period in the region, while the attributable burden of high-FPG and high-BMI increased. Alarmingly, exposure to all four risk factors increased in the past three decades. There has been significant heterogeneity among the countries in the region regarding the trends of exposure and attributable burden. Urgent action is required at the individual, community, and national levels in terms of introducing effective strategies for prevention and treatment that account for local and socioeconomic factors. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

IntroductionMetabolic risk factors (MRFs) predispose populations to a variety of chronic diseases with a huge burden globally. With the increasing burden of these risk factors in Iran, in this study, we aimed to report the estimated burden attributed to MRFs at national and subnational scales in Iran, from 1990 to 2019.MethodsBased on the comparative risk assessment method of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2019, data of deaths and disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) attributable to four top MRFs in Iran including high systolic blood pressure (SBP), high fasting plasma glucose (FPG), high body mass index (BMI), and high low-density lipoprotein (LDL) for the 1990–2019 period, were extracted. The socio-demographic index (SDI) was used to report the data based on the corresponding socio-economic stratifications. The results were reported in national and subnational 31 provinces of Iran to discover disparities regarding the attributable burden to MRFs. Furthermore, we reported the causes of diseases to which the attributable burden to MRFs was related.ResultsOverall, the age-standardized high LDL, high SBP, high BMI, and high FPG-attributed death rate changed by −45.1, −35.6, +2.8, and +19.9% from 1990 to 2019, respectively. High SBP was the leading risk factor regarding attributed age-standardized death rates reaching 157.8 (95% uncertainty interval: 135.3–179.1) and DALY rates reaching 2973.4 (2652.2–3280.2) per 100,000 person-years, in 2019. All rates increased with aging, and men had higher rates except for the +70 years age group. At the subnational level, provinces in the middle SDI quintile had the highest death and DALY rates regarding all four MRFs. Total deaths, DALYs, YLLs and YLDs number by the causes of diseases linked to MRFs increased over the study period. Cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, and kidney diseases were the main causes of burden of disease attributable to MRFs.ConclusionHerein, we found divergent patterns regarding the burden of MRFs as well as disparities in different regions, sex, and age groups for each risk factor and related causes. This could provide policymakers with a clearer vision toward more appropriate decision-making and resource allocation to prevent the burden of MRFs in Iran.

BackgroundKidney dysfunction is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease. Herein, we aimed to describe the attributable burden of kidney dysfunction at the national and sub-national levels in Iran.MethodsThe Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 data were extracted on the deaths, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), years of life lost, and years lived with disability attributed to the risk factor of kidney dysfunction by age and sex at the national and provincial levels from 1990-2019. Also, risk exposure was reported by summary exposure value (SEV) with a range of 0 to 100. The estimated values were based on a comparative risk assessment framework.ResultsIn 2019, the age-standardized death rate and age-standardized DALYs rate attributable to kidney dysfunction were 58.2 (95% uncertainty interval of 48.8-68.1) and 1127.2 (981.1-1282.7) per 100,000 population in Iran, respectively. Also, the Sistan and Baluchistan province (1729.3 [1478.3-2006.4]) and the province of Tehran (681.9 [571.4-809.8]) had the greatest and lowest age-standardized DALYs rates, respectively. Nationally, SEVs increased from 22.8 to 26.2. The age-standardized burden attributable to kidney dysfunction had a positive association with age advancement. The attributable age-standardized deaths and DALYs rates in all socio-demographic index regions decreased from 1990-2019. Also, the highest and lowest attributable age-standardized DALYs rates of kidney dysfunction came from ischemic heart disease and peripheral artery disease in 2019, respectively.ConclusionAlthough the attributed age-standardized DALYs and death rates decreased from 1990-2019, risk exposure increased and remains a crucial risk factor in Iran. Therefore, policymakers should consider preparing a preventive program that takes into account different levels of prevention of kidney dysfunction.

Background and Aim Moral stress happens when a person makes a moral decision but cannot accomplish it, mainly due to internal and external organizational limitations. Problem-solving skills training as one of the principles of stress management may be effective in controlling nurses’ moral stress. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of problem-solving skills training on the moral stress of novice nurses. Methods & Materials This study was a clinical trial performed on 70 novice nurses working in Shohaday Khorramabad Hospital, Khorramabad City, Iran. The samples were selected by convenience sampling and randomly divided into intervention (n=36) and control (n=35) groups. The study data were collected by demographic questionnaire and Corley’s moral distress scale. Before the intervention, participants of both groups completed those questionnaires. Then for the intervention group, a problem-solving skills workshop was held in six 2-hour sessions. After training, the Corley moral distress scale was completed again by participants of both groups. Finally, the data were analyzed by the Chi-square test, paired, and independent t tests in SPSS software v. 16. Ethical Considerations This study has been approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Arak University of Medical Sciences with the ethical code IR.ARAKMU.REC.1395.449. Informed consent was taken from all participants, and they were assured of keeping their information confidential. Results In this study, most participants were around 25 years old. Also, 98.5% had Bachler’s degrees, and 1.5% had Master’s degrees. The study results showed that the mean of moral distress in the intervention was significantly different from before the intervention (P

Background: Measles is a feverish condition labeled among the most infectious viral illnesses in the globe. Despite the presence of a secure, accessible, affordable and efficient vaccine, measles continues to be a worldwide concern. Methods: This epidemiologic study used machine learning and time series methods to assess factors that placed people at a higher risk of measles. The study contained the measles incidence in Markazi Province, the center of Iran, from Apr 1997 to Feb 2020. In addition to machine learning, zero-inflated negative binomial regression for time series was utilized to assess development of measles over time. Results: The incidence of measles was 14.5% over the recent 24 years and a constant trend of almost zero cases were observed from 2002 to 2020. The order of independent variable importance were recent years, age, vaccination, rhinorrhea, male sex, contact with measles patients, cough, conjunctivitis, ethnic, and fever. Only 7 new cases were forecasted for the next two years. Bagging and random forest were the most accurate classification methods. Conclusion: Even if the numbers of new cases were almost zero during recent years, age and contact were responsible for non-occurrence of measles. October and May are prone to have new cases for 2021 and 2022.

Designing buildings with a very high safety factor is one of the main purposes of a civil engineer. Since in the structural design process, there are several no-confidence; we cannot achieve a perfect safe design. In these cases, we face amount of the probability of failure. So the theory of reliability used to assess the uncertainty. This theoretical for expression the safety of a system uses the reliability index, so it can be said that the calculation of reliability index is an important part of the theory. By the theory of structural reliability, uncertainties arising from the nature of the statistical parameters can be written mathematical equations and considerations of safety and performance of the structure into the design process. Since classical methods are not capable of solving complex functions, metaheuristic algorithms used. In fact, a metaheuristic algorithm is a set of concepts, which significantly able to solve many complex issues, which they can reach an optimal solution in a short time. In this paper, the particle swarm algorithm combined with Firefly and to assess the reliability theory has been used. Reliability index is calculated by searching the shortest distance between the origin and the closed point of Limit State Surface in the Standard normalized space.Mathematical and engineering studies on the issues indicated; Hybrid Firefly and particle swarm algorithm are with great accuracy and speed.

Background: Despite our awareness of the significant effect of Social Determinant of Health (SDoH) such as Socio Economic Status (SES), income and education on breast cancer survival, there was a serious lack of information about the effect of different level of these factors on breast cancer survival. So far, no meta-analysis has been conducted with this aim, but this gap was addressed by this meta-analysis. Methods: Main electronic databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus were investigated up to January 2019. Epidemiological studies focusing on the association between SDoH and breast cancer were singled out. Q-test and I2 statistic were used to study the heterogeneity across studies. Begg's and Egger's tests were applied to explore the likelihood of the publication bias. The results were reported as hazard ratio (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) through a random-effects model. Results: We identified 7,653 references and included 25 studies involving 1,497,881 participants. The HR estimate of breast cancer survival was 0.82 (0.67, 0.98) among high level of SES, 0.82 (0.70, 0.94) among high level of income and 0.72 (0.66, 0.78) among academic level of education. Conclusions: The SES, income, and education were associated with breast cancer survival, although the association was not very strong. However, there was a significant association between the levels of these factors and breast cancer survival.

Due to their complicated dynamics and underactuated nature, spherical robots require advanced control methods to reveal all their manoeuvrability features. This paper considers the path tracking control problem of a spherical robot equipped with a 2-DOF pendulum. The pendulum has two input torques that allow it to take angles about the robot’s transverse and longitudinal axes. Due to mechanical technicalities, it is assumed that these angles are immeasurable. First, a neural network observer is designed to estimate the pendulum angles. Then a modified sliding mode controller is proposed for the robot’s tracking control in the presence of uncertainties. Next, the Lyapunov theorem is utilized to analyse the overall stability of the proposed scheme, including the convergence of the observer estimation and the trajectory tracking errors. Finally, simulation results are provided to indicate the effectiveness of the proposed method in comparison with the other available control approaches.

Introduction: Renal colic can be managed by preventing the contraction movements of ureter muscles. By reducing acetylcholine in the nerve terminals, magnesium sulfate could be effective in this regard. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of magnesium sulfate on acute renal colic pain relief. Method: The present study was a double-blind clinical trial in which the patients suffering from acute renal colic were randomly divided into 2 groups of who either received standard protocol (intravenous infusion of 0.1 mg/Kg morphine sulfate, 30 mg of Ketorolac, and 100 ml normal saline as placebo/15 minutes) or standard protocol plus 15 mg/Kg of intravenous magnesium sulfate 50%/100 ml normal saline/15 minutes. Severity of patients’ pain was measured by visual analogue scale (VAS) at baseline, and 30 and 60 minutes after infusion. The collected data were analyzed using STATA statistical software. Results: 100 cases were randomly allocated to intervention or control group. The two groups were similar in baseline pain score and demographic characteristics. At 30 and 60 minutes, mean pain score was less in the intervention group compared to the control group. Moreover, the difference between the two groups was statistically significant regarding the additional amount of morphine, suggesting that the intervention group needed less additional morphine than the control group. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that Magnesium sulfate can be used as an adjunct drug in treatment of patients suffering from renal colic. It not only alleviates the pain in the patients, but also diminishes the need for pain medications.

Background: Health literacy is a major factor for health promotion and well-being. In spite of several researches on health literacy, information on the subject of the status of health literacy in Asian countries such as Iran is inadequate. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the inequality of health literacy in an Iranian population and its influencing factors. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 736 families were selected by cluster random sampling. A validated questionnaire was used to measure the health literacy of participants. Socioeconomic status (SES) was calculated by asset-based approach, and principal component analysis (PCA) was performed to estimate the families' SES. Concentration index and curve were used to measure SES inequality in health literacy, and after that decomposed into its determinants. The data were analyzed by Stata software. Results: The mean age of the participants was 34.81 years (standard deviation = 5.98 years). The value of concentration index for health literacy equals 0.2292 (95% confidence interval = 0.168–0.283), and this value indicates that there is inequality in distribution of health literacy in Iran and the inequality disfavors the poor. Conclusions: The results of this study revealed that there is inequality in distribution of health literacy in Iran, and people of higher economic status in Iran enjoy from better health literacy levels.

Introduction: Renal colic can be managed by preventing the contraction movements of ureter muscles. By reducing acetylcholine in the nerve terminals, magnesium sulfate could be effective in this regard. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of magnesium sulfate on acute renal colic pain relief. Method: The present study was a double-blind clinical trial in which the patients suffering from acute renal colic were randomly divided into 2 groups of who either received standard protocol (intravenous infusion of 0.1 mg/Kg morphine sulfate, 30 mg of Ketorolac, and 100 ml normal saline as placebo/15 minutes) or standard protocol plus 15 mg/Kg of intravenous magnesium sulfate 50%/100 ml normal saline/15 minutes. Severity of patients’ pain was measured by visual analogue scale (VAS) at baseline, and 30 and 60 minutes after infusion. The collected data were analyzed using STATA statistical software. Results: 100 cases were randomly allocated to intervention or control group. The two groups were similar in baseline pain score and demographic characteristics. At 30 and 60 minutes, mean pain score was less in the intervention group compared to the control group. Moreover, the difference between the two groups was statistically significant regarding the additional amount of morphine, suggesting that the intervention group needed less additional morphine than the control group. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that Magnesium sulfate can be used as an adjunct drug in treatment of patients suffering from renal colic. It not only alleviates the pain in the patients, but also diminishes the need for pain medications.

Extended Abstract Introduction and Objective: Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) ranks second in terms of cultivated area in Iran after wheat, and according to the latest statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad (2019), its cultivated area in the country is reported to be 1.547 million hectares, which the amount the production of seeds was 3.514 million tons. The objective of this study was to select the superior barley genotypes based on grain yield and its stability, and also yield components, and important yield-related agronomic traits in temperate regions of Khorasan Razavi province. Materials and Methods: To identify the optimal genotypes of barley, three promising lines along with Nusrat, Yusuf, Gohran, and Rihan cultivars in the form of randomized complete block design with five replications in three cities of Firouzeh, Bardeskan (Anabod sector) and Khalilabad (Kander sector) during the crop year 2018-2019 were cultivated and studied. Several main traits i.e., number of spikes per unit area, number of kernels per spike, plant height, thousand kernel weight, biological yield, harvest index, and grain yield were recorded. GGE (genotype and genotype×environment) biplot analysis and genotype×function×trait biplot analysis were used to investigate the objectives of this research. Results: Based on the results of stability analysis, the promising line MB95-4 was the Ideal genotype, and the closest genotype to it was the promising line MB95-11. In this study, GYT bioplate was used to identify desirable genotypes based on several traits simultaneously. Based on the results, the promising lines MB95-4 and MB95-11 promising lines were the best in combining grain yield with the evaluated traits, respectively. According to the GYT index, the promising lines MB95-4 and MB95-11 had the highest values, respectively. On the other hand, these two lines did not have negative values for combined yield with different traits. This indicated the relative superiority of these cultivars in combining grain yield with the evaluated traits. The value of the GYT index for the Goharan cultivar was close to zero (0.01) and this means that this cultivar had average values of traits in this study. Conclusion: In general, based on the results of this study, the best genotypes in temperate regions of Khorasan Razavi province based on grain yield and its stability as well as yield components and important agronomic traits were MB95-4 and MB95-11 promising lines.

Abstract Background Information on the nature and extent of genetic and genotype × environment (GE) interaction is extremely rare in wheat varieties under different sowing dates. In the present study, the GGE biplot method was conducted to investigate genotype × environment interaction effects and evaluate the adaptability and yield stability of 13 wheat varieties across eight sowing dates, in order to facilitate comparison among varieties and sowing dates and identify suitable varieties for the future breeding studies. Results Considerable genotypic variation was observed among genotypes for all of the evaluated traits, demonstrating that selection for these traits would be successful. Low broad sense heritability obtained for grain yield showed that, both genetic and non-genetic gene actions played a role in the control of this trait, and suggested that indirect selection based on its components which had high heritability and high correlation with yield, would be more effective to improve grain yield in this germplasm. Hence, selection based on an index may be more useful for improvement of this trait in recurrent selection programs. The results of the stability analysis showed that the environmental effect was a major source of variation, which captured 72.21% of total variation, whereas G and GE explained 6.94% and 18.33%, respectively. The partitioning of GGE through GGE biplot analysis showed that, the first two PCs accounted for 54.64% and 35.15% of the GGE sum of squares respectively, capturing a total of 89.79% variation. According to the GGE biplot, among the studied varieties, the performance of Gascogen was the least stable, whereas Sirvan, Roshan, and Pishtaz had superior performance under all sowing dates, suggesting that they have a broad adaptation to the diverse sowing dates. These varieties may be recommended for genetic improvement of wheat with a high degree of adaptation. Conclusion The results obtained in this study demonstrated the efficiency of the GGE biplot technique for selecting high yielding and stable varieties across sowing dates.

DOR: 98.1000/2383-1251.1398. 6.95.12.2.1575.41 Extended Abstract Introduction: The effect of environmental factors on the developmental stages of a plant causes the planting date to vary from one region to another. Temperature is a very important factor in the maximum percentage germination and germination rate. Priming improves germination rate, brings about the uniformity of germination and reduces seed susceptibility to environmental factors. The purposes of this experiment were to study the effects of priming treatments at different temperatures on the germination characteristics of Hibiscus sabdariffa under laboratory conditions, to investigate priming treatments on different planting dates and to compare early planting dates on the farms. Materials and Methods: The experimental study was carried out as a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with four replications in the Laboratory of Seed Technology of Kashmar University Jihad. The first factor is five primings (Concentrations of ZnSO4 (10 mM), Humic acid (2.5 cc) and the combination of Humic acid and Zinc sulfate, Biological materials (Pota Barvar 2), no treatment (control) and the second factor is five levels of temperature: 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 °C. Field studies were carried out in Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center of Kashmar in three separate experiments in 2018. The research was carried out in a completely randomized block design with three replications on three planting dates (March 25th, April 15th, and May 4th, 2018). In each experiment, priming treatments were applied similarly to field experiments. Results: The results of the current experimental study showed that temperature, priming and temperature interaction with priming had a significant effect on all the traits studied. The highest percentage and rate of germination were observed at 18 °C and priming with Pota Barvar 2. The results also showed that planting date had a significant effect on all the traits studied in the field experiment. Priming showed a significant difference only in stem fresh weight. The interaction effect of priming and planting date was not significant for the traits studied. The highest germination percentage was obtained on April 15’s planting date. By planting later than March 25 to 15 April, a decrease of 74% was observed in the rate of germination. Among priming treatments, the combination of Zinc Sulfate and Humic acid showed a significant superiority, compared with other treatments. Conclusion: The findigns suggest that due to the high sensitivity of seed germination of sour tea at low temperatures, the planting date in each area should be carefully chosen so that it does not coincide with temperatures below 18 °C. Highlights: Evaluation of the effect of seed priming treatment at different temperatures on germination characteristics of Roselle under laboratory conditions. A different priming treatment leads to increases in germination characteristics of Roselle.

Pistachio (Pistachio vera L.) is an economically valuable crop, and Iran is among the biggest producers and consumers of this product in the world. The pistachio psyllid (Agonoscena pistaciae) is one of the most destructive pests of this crop, resulting in severe damage in terms of yield and quality. Therefore, pistachios are subjected to multiple sprayings with various pesticides during the growing season. As pistachio nuts are exported and largely consumed freshly in Iran, investigating zero-pollution strategies such as applying environmentally safe and non-chemical pesticides to control this pest is essential. In this research, the efficacy of potassium silicate and potassium sulfate against A. pistaciae was investigated in a pistachio orchard and compared with some common pesticides, i.e., acetamiprid, imidacloprid, and thiamethoxam. The pistachios were sprayed with commercial formulations of each pesticide using their recommended dosage, and with water (control), using a complete randomized block design (CRBD) with three replicates. Populations of A. pistaciae nymphs were evaluated 1 day before and 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21 days following sprayings, by randomly collecting 60 leaves from each treatment. The results showed that all pesticides reached their maximum efficacies (>85%) 3 days after spraying, and no significant differences were observed between the compounds (p = 0.15). Over time, however, the efficacy of pesticides decreased dramatically, and potassium silicate (37.97%) and acetamiprid (14.58%) showed the highest and lowest efficacies, respectively (p < 0.01). Our results suggest acceptable efficacies of potassium silicate and potassium sulfate as environmentally safe compounds against the pistachio psyllid compared to common chemical pesticides.

Research and development (R & D) play an important role in the development of societies and the country's economic growth and developed and industrialized countries have put a considerable investment on these issues. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of research and development on the organizational agility and productivity of the manufacturing companies in the industrial town of Semnan. In this research, after reviewing theoretical foundations and previous studies, a model of the effects of research and development on organizational agility and productivity was presented and validated using structural equation method. Then, based on the obtained results and using experts' opinions, a dynamic model was designed to show the dynamics of the variables over time. The validity of the model was evaluated and validated using system dynamic approach. The results in the first section indicate the positive significant impact of research and development activities on the agility and productivity. Additionally, the results of different simulations in the model revealed that an increase in research and development budget through a self-reinforcing loop after the twelfth month from the twelfth month after can make an increase in the agility and productivity in the form of exponential growth.

Introduction: Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD) is characterised by fat accumulation in the liver. Treatment of NAFLD in children is an important issue but the options are limited. Green tea has antioxidant and anti-hyperlipidemic effects but studies; on the effect of green tea in children are limited. Aim: To investigate effect of green tea on NAFLD in children. Materials and Methods: In this study, 52 children aged 10-16 years with NAFLD were divided into two groups of 26 each: Intervention and control. For both groups, modification of diet and intensification of physical activity were prescribed for three months. Intervention group was also treated with green tea tablets. Sonography and measurements of liver enzymes {Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) and Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST)}, lipid profile and Body Mass Index (BMI) were conducted before and after the intervention. The data were analysed by the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19.0 using ANCOVA. Results: After treatment with green tea, fatty liver grade decreased significantly in the intervention group compared to control group (p