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The current study explored whether critical thinking skills can be cultivated among Iranian EFL learners through keeping dialogue journals written through paper-and-pen (traditional) and through email (modern). Moreover, the study compared Traditional Dialogue Journal Writing with Modern Dialogue Journal Writing to see which one has probably a greater potentiality for improving critical thinking in an ELT context. To this end, it adopted a quantitative design and selected 85 participants non-randomly from among intermediate EFL learners in Iran. To collect the data, a Preliminary English Test as a homogeneity test and Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Form were utilized. Statistical analysis of the finding revealed that dialogue journaling, both traditional and modern, was a fruitful experience for developing critical thinking. Moreover, contrary to the researchers' assumption, traditional Dialogue journal proved to have a greater potentiality for the development of critical thinking. The study provides implications for ELT contexts.

The bis(2-chloroethyl) sulfide, commonly named sulfur mustard, as a vesicant agent and the tabun, sarin, soman, and venomous X as organophosphorus nerve agents are the most notorious, used, and threatening chemical warfare agents which contamination by them make serious health problems. The most efficient method for sulfur mustard detoxification is its selective oxidation to its corresponding sulfoxide, which is a nontoxic product. While for organophosphorus nerve agents, the best strategy is the hydrolysis of their P–X bond. Various mono-functional catalysts have been introducing regarding these methods. In other words, they are only able to selective oxidation of sulfur mustard or hydrolysis of organophosphorus nerve agents or their simulants. However, due to the unpredictable use of these chemical warfare agents, for human and environmental safety, there is a need for dual-functional catalysts capable of both the selective oxidation of sulfur mustard and hydrolysis of organophosphorus agents. In this regard, the reported dual-functional catalysts for oxidation of sulfur mustard and hydrolysis of organophosphorus agents, or their simulants, are reviewed here. These catalysts are mainly polyoxometalates and minorly metal-organic frameworks based catalysts.

Background: Pool fire is a phenomenon caused by the leakage of flammable materials on the ground leading to serious hazards, irrespective of its consequences. The proximity and high volumes of chemicals in warehouses require that the characteristics of various materials in warehouses be taken into account for calculating the chain effects of the pool fire. Methods: One of the effective parameters in expanding the impact of pool fire chain is heat flux value. There are different models for calculating and predicting it. In this study, two approaches of computational fluid dynamic (CFD), fire-driven fluid flow, fire dynamics simulator (FDS), and solid flame model were used to predict heat flux values. Results: In both models, the calculated heat flux was used to evaluate the effects on humans (first-degree burns, second-degree burns, and deaths) and the materials. The CFD results were compared with the results of the solid flame model, which indicated that there was little error in the predicted heat flux values. Conclusion: The results of this study can be used to better understand the effects of pool fire on chemical warehouses, and provide appropriate control measures to prevent such accidents in warehouses.

This study aims to assess the risk of chemicals warehouse using a Bayesian networks (BNs) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD). A methodology combining Bow-Tie (BT), fuzzy set theory (FST), and Bayesian network was employed, in which the BT was drawn for chemical spill scenarios. FST was utilized for the estimation of the basic events (BEs) occurrence probability, and the probability of interaction among a set of variables was obtained using BNs. Pool fire scenario radiation heat flux was evaluated using CFD code, fire dynamic simulator (FDS), and the solid flame model (SFM). Fail in forklift brake system (BE1), was the most significant cause for a chemical spill. Based on the CFD model, the heat flux is 31 kW/m

The previous studies on the field of competitive advantages of businesses were reviewed. Competitive advantage refers to a set of factors or capabilities that enable the company to demonstrate better performance comparing to the competitors. Totally 59 articles in eight different fields, including strategic management, strategic management of marketing, marketing management, information technology, knowledge management, resources-based theory, entrepreneurship, and human resource management, were reviewed. The results showed that among several available methods, a majority of businesses employ Porter’s triple strategies, namely differentiation, centralization, and cost leadership, to gain competitive advantages. Among the triple strategies, the strategy of differentiation has drawn the highest attention and simultaneous utilization of the three strategies is a rare case.

Constant increasing of visual information necessitates most efficient image compression schemes for saving storage space or reducing required transmission bandwidth. In compressing a class of images, such as a fingerprint database, facial images of an organization or MR images of a hospital, overall information redundancy is increased and compression becomes more significant. In this paper, image signal sparse representation and RLS-DLA dictionary design are utilized for compressing whole or part of a facial image database by exploiting the structural similarity of the class members. In the proposed algorithm, images are compressed by multiple overcomplete learned dictionaries which are designed to provide least required bit-rates for different target qualities. To fortify the process, more interested head and shoulders regions of the images are extracted to provide dictionary training sets. A combined edge detection and active contour segmentation method is used for a robust ROI extraction. Simulation results show superior performance of about 0.3 to 1.5 dB quality enhancement in terms of PSNR, for similar compression ratios compared to JPEG2000 standard for the complete image, and a near loss-less compression for restoring the ROI.

Development of eco-friendly, desirable and reusable catalysts particularly for reactions in regard to carbon dioxide fixation is still attractive in academic and industrial sectors. In this study, a dicationic ionic liquid was anchored to a cheap biopolymer, i.e., chitosan and the prepared hybrid composite was used in the cycloaddition reaction of CO2 with various epoxides for preparing five-membered cyclic carbonates under solvent-free conditions in high yield and selectivity without the addition any metal co-catalyst. The catalyst was characterized by 1H and 13C NMR, FTIR, UV-vis, XPS, TG, FESEM, and BET techniques. The catalyst was recovered and recycled at least five times without losing its activity and selectivity. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that chitosan through hydrogen bonding, coordination of amine groups with CO2 and also loosely bonded bromide ion to imidazolium ion have synergistic effects on the yield and selectivity of cyclic carbonates under optimum conditions. On the basis of the obtained results, a feasible mechanism was proposed for the reaction.

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A phosphovanadomolybdate hybridized with an anchored dicationic ionic liquid on Al-MCM-41 was prepared through the anion exchange and characterized by 1H and 13C NMR, FTIR, UV?Vis, XRD, XPS, TGA, T ...

Many infants who develop bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) are born with serious respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), which is associated with impaired vascular and alveolar growth. RDS is a breathing disorder that mostly affects preterm infants and occurs in infants whose lungs have not yet been fully developed. The use of surfactant in RDS treatment does not necessarily prevent BPD. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) may contribute to lung angiogenesis for the prevention and treatment of BPD. The aim of this study was to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of phototherapy for EPC release in preterm infants born with RDS. Seventy-five RDS preterm infants were divided into two groups: RDS with phototherapy and RDS without phototherapy. Respiratory indices were recorded for each patient. Circulating EPCs were isolated before and after phototherapy and colony forming efficiency, chemotactic, tubulogenic, proliferative, and functional properties of these cells were analyzed. Our results showed that phototherapy increased the release of EPCs into the circulation in RDS preterm infants, with augmentation of cell proliferation, tubulogenic, chemotactic, and proliferative properties of EPCs. Phototherapy-induced EPC release was associated with improved lung function as was recorded by significantly decrease in continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) days, CPAP plus ventilator days, and PCO2 along with a significant increase in PO2 and PaO2 /FiO2 , resulting in markedly decreased rate of BPD occurrence in preterm infants with RDS. Overall, phototherapy is touted as a promising modality for the amelioration of respiratory performance and prohibition of BPD occurrence in RDS preterm infants. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 594-604, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of an intensive 10-week course of articulation therapy on articulation errors in cleft lip and palate patients who have Velopharyngeal Insufficiency (VPI), non-oral and passive cleft speech characteristics. Methods Five children with cleft palate (+/-cleft lip) with VPI and non-oral and passive cleft speech characteristics underwent 40 intensive articulation therapies over 10 weeks in a single case experimental design. The percentage of non-oral CSCs (NCSCs), passive CSCs (PCSCs), stimulable consonants (SC), correct consonants in word imitation (CCI), and correct consonants in picture naming (CCN) were captured at baseline, during intervention and in follow up phases. Visual analysis and two effect size indexes of Percentage of Nonoverlapping Data and Percentage of Improvement Rate Difference were analyzed. Results Articulation therapy resulted in visible decrease in NCSCs for all 5 participants across the intervention phases. Intervention was effective in changing percentage of passive CSCs in two different ways; it reduced the PCSCs in three cases and resulted in an increase in PCSCs in the other two cases. This was interpreted as intervention having changed the non-oral CSCs to consonants produced within the oral cavity but with passive characteristics affecting manner of production including weakness, nasalized plosives and nasal realizations of plosives and fricatives. Percent SC increased throughout the intervention period in all five patients. All participants demonstrated an increase in percentage of CCI and CCN suggesting an increase in the consonant inventory. Follow-up data showed that all the subjects were able to maintain their ability to articulate learned phonemes correctly even after a 4-week break from intervention. Conclusion This single case experimental study supports the hypothesis that speech intervention in patients with VPI can result in an improvement in oral placements and passive CSCs.

In this paper, a fuzzy modeling technique called Modified Active Learning Method (MALM) was introduced and utilized for fuzzy simulation of indoor and inner surface temperatures in residential buildings using meteorological data and its capability for fuzzy simulation was compared with other studies. The case studies for simulations were two residential apartments in the Fakouri and Rezashahr neighborhoods of Mashhad, Iran. The hourly inner surface and indoor temperature data were accumulated during measurements taken in 2010 and 2011 in different rooms of the apartments under heating and natural ventilation conditions. Hourly meteorological data (dry bulb temperature, wind speed and direction and solar radiation) were measured by a meteorological station and utilized with zero to three hours lags as input variables for the simulation of inner surface and indoor temperatures. The results of simulations demonstrated the capability of MALM to be used for nonlinear fuzzy simulation of inner surface and indoor temperatures in residential apartments.

Microvascular dysfunction plays a key role in the pathology of sepsis, leading to multi-organ failure, and death. Circulating endothelial progenitor cells (cEPCs) are critically involved in the maintenance of the vascular homeostasis in both physiological and pathological contexts. In this study, concentration of cEPCs in preterm infants with sepsis was determined to recognize whether the EPC mobilization would affect the clinical outcome of infantile sepsis. One hundred and thirty-three preterm infants (81 with sepsis and 52 without sepsis) were enrolled in this study. The release of EPCs in circulation was first quantified. Thereafter, these cells were cultivated and biological features of these cells such as, proliferation and colony forming efficiency were analyzed. The levels of chemoattractant cytokines were also measured in infants. In mouse models of sepsis, effects of VEGF and SDF-1 as well as anti-VEGF and anti-SDF-1 were evaluated in order to shed light upon the role which the EPC mobilization plays in the overall survival of septic animals. Circulating EPCs were significantly higher in preterm infants with sepsis than in the non-sepsis group. Serum levels of VEGF, SDF-1, and Angiopoietin-2 were also higher in preterm infants with sepsis than in control non-sepsis. In the animal experiments, injection of VEGF and SDF-1 prompted the mobilization of EPCs, leading to an improvement in survival whereas injection of anti-VEGF and anti-SDF-1 was associated with significant deterioration of survival. Overall, our results demonstrated the beneficial effects of EPC release in preterm infants with sepsis, with increased mobilization of these cells was associated with improved survival. J. Cell. Biochem. 118: 3299-3307, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Acoustic monitoring of swallow frequency has become important as the frequency of spontaneous swallowing can be an index for dysphagia and related complications. In addition, it can be employed as an objective quantification of ingestive behavior. Commonly, swallowing complications are manually detected using videofluoroscopy recordings, which require expensive equipment and exposure to radiation. In this study, a noninvasive automated technique is proposed that uses breath and swallowing recordings obtained via a microphone located over the laryngopharynx. Nonlinear diffusion filters were used in which a scale-space decomposition of recorded sound at different levels extract swallows from breath sounds and artifacts. This technique was compared to manual detection of swallows using acoustic signals on a sample of 34 subjects with Parkinson's disease. A speech language pathologist identified five subjects who showed aspiration during the videofluoroscopic swallowing study. The proposed automated method identified swallows with a sensitivity of 86.67 %, a specificity of 77.50 %, and an accuracy of 82.35 %. These results indicate the validity of automated acoustic recognition of swallowing as a fast and efficient approach to objectively estimate spontaneous swallow frequency.

Background: Hypertension is a risk factor that may lead to development of Atherosclerosis (ATS). Recent studies have emphasized on the importance of high blood pressure and cholesterol on cardiovascular diseases. Objectives: This study aimed to simultaneously examine factors that affect total cholesterol (TC), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) using the mixed response model. Methods: This cross-sectional study comprised of 245 participants, hospitalized at Shahid Madani state hospital, Khorramabad-Iran diagnosed with ATS in fall and winter 2014. The method of sampling was convenience sampling and the participants were selected through census of all the patients hospitalized in different cardiac wards, except for angiography. Results: Systolic blood pressure was significantly associated with fasting blood glucose (FBG) (P = 0.001), C - reactive protein (CRP) (P = 0.021), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (P = 0.004), and low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) (P = 0.002). In addition, FBG (P=0.002), CRP (P = 0.011) and LDL-C (P = 0.027) levels were significantly associated with DBP. It was revealed that age (P = 0.016), smoking (P = 0.010), triglyceride (TG) (P = 0.001) and FBG (P = 0.021) were significantly associated with TC. Conclusions: Cardiovascular diseases are highly prevalent and there are many risk factors. Therefore, it is necessary to provide proper education on changing life style and preventing the disease.

Introduction: Functional constipation is one of the most common gastrointestinal symptoms which could affect patients’ quality of life. The colonic transit time test could be used for determining functional constipation subtypes. The aim of our study was to determine the abnormalities of the subtypes of functional constipation using CTT. Methods and Materials: This cross-sectional study was performed on 85 patients in 2011 in Shariaaty Hospital, Isfahan. All the patients received 60 radio-opaque markers, and they underwent radiological evaluation 5 days afterwards. Functional constipation was determined according to the distribution of the markers in the colon. Result: The samples consisted of 24 males and 61 females at a mean age of 42.7 ± 16.28 years. The colonic transit time results showed that 71 patients had normal transit time, 6 had a composite type, 5 had slow transit, and 3 had pelvic delay. There was no significant difference between sex and colon transit time types (P value =0.32). The mean colon transit time in our study was 51.8 ± 16.3 hours. Conclusion: Functional constipation patients should undergo CTT, especially those who use maneuvers for defecation and those who need more time for defecation.[GMJ. 2012;1(2):48-52]

In this paper a new image compression scheme using redundant dictionary and sparse coding is proposed. Unlike other sparse coding schemes which use just one dictionary we employ multiple specific dictionaries for compressing a class of facial images. The recursive least square dictionary learning algorithm, RLS-DLA, is used to design the adaptive dictionaries, each tuned to an interval of target compression rate. The evaluation of the presented method shows that in spite of being simple and fast, it outperforms modern standard compression techniques, specially the JPEG2000, by about 0.5 to 1.2 dB. This in turn, displays the effectiveness of the scheme compared to the state-of-the-art sparse coding schemes.

Polyvinylchloride (PVC) panel is one of the most favorite decorative materials that has been popularly applied as finishing of ceiling in residential buildings. It is about five years that the people incline to redecorate the ceiling of old buildings with PVC panel in big cities of Iran, such as Mashad. In this study, the influence of ceiling PVC panel on the cooling and heating loads of studied apartment were determined by software DeST-h. In addition, the summer natural ventilation of the mentioned apartment is investigated by determining the wind speed into the apartment through the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. The evaluation of environment indoor wind velocity showed that most of the apartment space is a comfortable zone. The results of studied building analyses demonstrated that using PVC panel on the ceiling can decline the energy consumption of the penthouse (fifth level) of the investigated building, which is about 3.7% and 7% for studied methods of without and with air layer, respectively. In addition, although the existence of air layer can decline the cooling and heating loads, the increase in air layer thickness did not show significant decrease on building energy consumption. However, the PVC panel is expensive and is not suitable to be used for ceiling thermal insulation, but adding a thin layer of air between ceiling and PVC panel can be a good step toward sustainable building, when the people are inclined to utilize it as a decorative ceiling.