Search

Introduction: Odontogenic infections are polymicrobial in origin and can be life-threatening. Antibacterial failure is an important issue in the treatment of odontogenic infections. This study aimed to determine the factors associated with antibacterial failure in patients with head and neck infections with odontogenic sources.Material and method: This retrospective epidemiological study was performed using data collected from 229 patients with head and neck infections with an odontogenic source who had been operated on in Shahid Rajaee hospital from March 2014 to December 2019.Results: 123 (53.7%) patients were female and there were106 (46.3%) males. The mean age SD was 33.0113.37 years (range 7 to 80). The most common offending teeth were lower molars (81.7%) and lower premolars (5.7%). The most common site of infection was the submandibular area (36.4%) followed by the buccal (20.4%) and pterygomandibular (17.1%) regions. The most common pathogen was Streptococcus haemolyticus. The length of hospitalization was higher (4.66 days) in patients with failure of treatment compared to those without it (6.00 days) (p=0.002). A combination of penicillin G and metronidazole was prescribed for all patients with failure of treatment compared with 57.6% in patients without failure of treatment (p=0.002). There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups regarding age, duration of illness before hospitalization, WBC, gender and history of chemotherapy, hypertension, smoking, pregnancy, alcohol usage, diabetes mellitus, the rate of fever, trismus, dysphagia, malaise, antibiotic before hospitalization, and surgical approach.Conclusion: Possible determinants in this study were not associated with antibacterial failure. Further studies should be conducted to investigate this relationship.

Introduction. Delayed wound healing is one reason for readmission after spine surgery. The main cause of delayed wound healing is infection. Infection rates after initial instrumented spine surgery reportedly range from 0.7% to 11.9%. However, there are noninfectious reasons for wound problems as well. Materials and Methods. This report presents 2 cases of noninfectious fistulization, 1 which occurred 11 months and 1 which occurred 2 years after surgery for implantation of a lumbar interlaminar device. Results. Although no sign of infection was found in either patient, in both cases it was necessary to remove the interlaminar device. Conclusions. These 2 cases of delayed noninfectious fistulization following instrumented spine surgery are the first seen by the authors of the current report, and as of the time of this writing, no such cases have been documented in the medical literature.

As a result of solicited muscles, strong friction, and tensile force on cutaneous tissue, the difference in closure procedure and management strategies and complications of surgical incision healing is a real challenge in lumbar spine surgery. We performed a retrospective study to compare different types of wound closure in lumbar spine surgery. 4383 patients were included in this study. Wound dehiscence was more common in the intracutaneous suture group than in the far- near-near-far suture group. Delayed wound healing occurred more in the far-near near-far suture group than intracutaneous suture group. Also, the far-near near-far interrupted point suture group showed a higher ratio of delayed wound healing compared with crossover suture. The superficial wound infection rate was roughly the same in all types of sutures with an average value of 0.79% with 0.81% SD. This is a preliminary study to compare different types of operative wounds showing the pros and cons related to each option.

Introduction: The employment of telerehabilitation in different disciplines, particularly in the rehabilitation of older adults, has grown significantly across the world. In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, a chance has arisen to improve the user experience and to draw attention to the advantages of utilizing this service. The current research aimed to evaluate the investigations that utilized telerehabilitation to assist elderly people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: Systematic searches of papers published between September 1, 2019 and 1 December, 2021 were conducted in PubMed, Cochran Library, Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct, and ProQuest databases. The author narrowed down the list of articles by using search terms. Ultimately, publications from the COVID-19 period were studied for their perspectives on the employment of telerehabilitation among the elderly population. The whole process was supervised by two investigators at the same time. Results: In total, 2529 articles were included in the first search. Five articles were chosen for further assessment based on the careful consideration of their titles, abstracts, and full texts. Cross-sectional, feasibility, case, and interventional studies comprised 20%, 20%, 20%, and 40% of the papers, respectively. The studies were carried out in Brazil, the United States, Germany, Japan, and South Korea and involved using telerehabilitation for elderly individuals, identification of crucial manifestations and impairments, improving physical function in this population, and ensuring their happiness. Conclusion: Using a digital strategy for rehabilitation should be regarded as a means of overcoming the field’s obstacles. As a result, legislators and rehabilitation groups should consider the employment of telerehabilitation for the elderly population during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This paper examines the effects of a thin layer of inhomogeneity on periodic solutions of the Multiple-sine-Gordon (MsG) model. We investigate the dynamics of the perturbed Double-sine-Gordon (DsG) system as a significant and more practical case of such configurations. The thin barrier acts as a potential well (potential barrier) and causes critical deformations in kink train solutions and some basic properties of the periodic solutions, such as the type of sub-kinks, their amplitude, energy and wavelength. Stability of the initial kink chain during the interaction with medium defects is analyzed using their phase diagram. Sudden changes in the profile of kink trains due to the disruption of their amplitude and wavelength are considered. The time evolution of moving kink chain solutions while interacting with medium fractures is also studied., Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures

We present a fluid dynamical description of a relativistic scalar field in $1+1$ dimensions and apply the general results to the special case of Sine-Gordon solitons. The results which include the local quantities pressure, density and fluid velocity are compared to the standard quantities attributed to the solitons.

The European Union (EU) has made eco-innovation and green technology a priority as they are essential to the continent’s long-term prosperity. To move towards sustainable economic growth, eco-innovation takes a significant role in the transition process. The aim of the article is to use the eco-innovation indicators as an instrument to measure the eco-innovation performance of Lithuania in the context of the EU Green Deal in order to analyze and assess the components and indicators of the eco-innovation index for Lithuania. Following the aim of the article, a set of research hypotheses will be formulated. The evaluation of eco-innovation indicators in Lithuania relative to EU countries using Eco-IS indicators, determination of eco-innovation efficiency using the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method, and identification of necessary eco-innovation policies for sustainable growth are the objectives of this paper. The research results present the positive impact of eco-innovation activities in the EU on Lithuania, and vice versa. Lithuania was affected positively by eco-innovation activities of other EU nations. The outcome of the study indicates its relevance by highlighting Lithuania’s position among the lowest countries in terms of eco-innovation adoption, hence new research pathways for the creation and implementation of policies to solve the current situation are provided.

Background: Disasters occur unexpectedly each year, killing thousands around the world. Millions are directly under the influence of the outcomes of these events and their survival depends on the immediate state and international aid. This supports should be obtained in early hours after disasters. The main important need after disasters is safe water supply, which along with providing shelter, medicine, and nutrition, is vital to prevent diseases. So, immediate actions are needed to replace suitable drinking water resources for affected people. Methods: This study was conducted in 2019 using Web of Science, PupMed, Springer, Scopus, Embase databases (from 2000 to 31 September 2019). The PRISMA guideline was used to compile the study. All articles included in this study were original articles, short communications, letters to editor, editorials, systematic reviews, and articles presented at conferences and international congresses on the main topic of the study. Only English full-text articles were included in this study. Results: According to the results, water resources supply in disasters and emergencies criteria were classified into 4 main and 30 sub-criteria. The main criteria include environmental, economic, technology performance, quantitative and qualitative characteristics of water resources, which have 4, 2, 12, and 12 sub-criteria, respectively. Conclusion: This study intends to assist disaster service officials and decision makers and supervisors to plan for drinking water supply from area water resources, before the disaster and based on the history and geographical characteristics of the area, to take actions and meet the drinking water needs of the region.

BackgroundCOVID-19 pandemic has resulted in drastic changes around the world, revealing vulnerable aspects of healthcare systems. This study aimed to explore how Iranian healthcare system experienced the paradigm shift during the pandemic and determine the aspects that need improvement during the pandemic era.MethodThis qualitative study was conducted in 2021. A framework analysis approach was used to analyze the content of the 19 semi-structured interviews with the healthcare system experts from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (SUMS). The interviews‘ audio files changed into transcript after each session and data was saturated at the 19 interview. To increase the trustworthiness of the study, Guba and Lincoln's criteria including credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability were used. Goldsmith's five-step framework analysis was used applying MAX QDA version 10 software.ResultEight main themes and 20 subthemes were explored. The main themes included “strengthening the electronic health infrastructure,” “research for evidence-based decision making,” “dedicated financing to the pandemic,” “prevention of disruption in the effective provision of services and medicines,” “enriching the authority of the Ministry of Health by focusing on interactions,” “recruiting, managing and empowering health human resources with attention to financial and non-financial incentives,” “reforming educational approaches in training students in medical universities,” as well as “lessons learned from neglected aspects.”ConclusionTo be ready to respond to a possible future pandemic and for a paradigm shift, bold steps must be taken to make fundamental changes in various aspects of the healthcare system including e-health development, evidence-based decision making, dedicated budgets for pandemics, reinforcement of interactions at the national and international level, as well as sufficient attention to healthcare workers from all financial, non-financial and educational aspects.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led us to use virtual solutions and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI). Recent studies have clearly demonstrated the role of AI in health care and medical practice; however, a comprehensive review can identify potential yet not fulfilled functionalities of such technologies in pandemics. Therefore, this scoping review study aims at assessing AI functionalities in the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022. Methods: A systematic search was carried out in PubMed, Cochran Library, Scopus, Science Direct, ProQuest, and Web of Science from 2019 to May 9, 2022. Researchers selected the articles according to the search keywords. Finally, the articles mentioning the functionalities of AI in the COVID-19 pandemic were evaluated. Two investigators performed this process. Results: Initial search resulted in 9123 articles. After reviewing the title, abstract, and full text of these articles, and applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 4 articles were selectd for the final analysis. All 4 were cross-sectional studies. Two studies (50%) were performed in the United States, 1 (25%) in Israel, and 1 (25%) in Saudi Arabia. They covered the functionalities of AI in the prediction, detection, and diagnosis of COVID-19. Conclusions: To the extent of the researchers’ knowledge, this study is the first scoping review that assesses the AI functionalities in the COVID-19 pandemic. Health-care organizations need decision support technologies and evidence-based apparatuses that can perceive, think, and reason not dissimilar to human beings. Potential functionalities of such technologies can be used to predict mortality, detect, screen, and trace current and former patients, analyze health data, prioritize high-risk patients, and better allocate hospital resources in pandemics, and generally in health-care settings.

The Article Abstract is not available.

Background: The present study aimed to evaluate the surge capability of Shahid Rajaee Trauma Hospital in Shiraz City, Iran, in response to a mass causality incident. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in Shahid Rajaee Hospital in Shiraz in 2017. The Delphi technique was used in this study. Three checklists were used for the Emergency Department, Operating Room, and Intensive Care Unit. The surge capacity was calculated for each unit based on the formulas derived from different studies. Results: The surge capacities of the Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit, and Operating Room were obtained 36%, 20%, and 17.5%, respectively. Shahid Rajaee Hospital of Shiraz can quickly increase its capacity by 27% based on the scenario defined in this study. However, if an accident leads to more causalities, it will likely face several limiting factors for increasing the surge capacity. Conclusion: Due to the critical role of hospitals in the crisis, it seems that the studied hospital should look for ways to increase its surge capacity to cope with unexpected accidents as soon as possible.

Background: C2-C3 disc herniations are rare, but occur more frequent in the elderly population. As the classical anterior Cloward approach to these lesions is not optimal, we propose an alternative modified retropharyngeal approach to these disc herniations that were successfully utilized in two patients. Methods: Two patients with C2-C3 disc herniations underwent anterior cervical surgery utilizing the modified retropharyngeal approach. Results: Surgery was successful is two cases with C2-C3 disc herniation and no patient sustained a perioperative complication. Conclusion: Our modified anterior retropharyngeal approach for C2-C3 disc herniations resulted in good outcomes without perioperative complications.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed people's lifestyles as well as the way healthcare services are delivered. Undoubtedly, the difficulties associated with COVID-19 infection and rehabilitation and those associated with quarantine and viral preventive efforts may exacerbate the need for virtual reality to be used as a part of a complete rehabilitation strategy for these individuals. Thus, the present research aimed to evaluate the potential uses of virtual reality for the rehabilitation of individuals suffering from COVID-19.From 2019 to March 1, 2022, a systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Cochran Library, Scopus, Science Direct, ProQuest, and Web of Science databases. The papers were selected based on search terms and those that discussed the use of virtual reality in the rehabilitation of COVID-19 patients were reviewed. Each step of the study was reviewed by two authors.A total of 699 papers were found during the first search. Three papers were chosen for further investigation after a thorough evaluation of the publications' titles, abstracts, and full texts. Cross-sectional studies, randomized controlled clinical trials, and case reports comprised 33%, 33%, and 33% of the publications, respectively. Based on the results, people suffering from COVID-19 were the focus of two papers (66%) that employed immersion virtual reality for cognitive rehabilitation, whereas one study (33%) used non-immersive virtual reality for physical rehabilitation. In two papers (66%), virtual reality was also offered to patients in the form of a game.According to the results of the present research, virtual reality games may enhance functional and cognitive consequences, contentment levels among patients, and their ability to take charge of their own health care. In light of the obstacles faced by COVID-19 patients, alterations in the delivery of healthcare, and the significance of rehabilitation in this group during quarantine, new techniques have been considered for these patients to maintain treatment, return to regular life, and enhance their standard of life.

Background & Objective Continuity of midwifery-led care during labour and birth is considered optimal. To ensure its sustainability in practice where limited evidence is available, the aim of the present study was to explore midwives’ lived experiences of delivering continuous midwife-led intrapartum care. Methods This study took a qualitative approach in meeting its aim. Participants were midwives working in the labour wards of private and public hospitals in Iran. The data were purposefully collected in 2019 through in-depth, semi-structured, and face-to-face interviews with midwives (n = 10) aged between 26 and 55 years. A thematic analysis based on descriptive phenomenology was undertaken to make sense of the data collected. Results “Wanting to lead continuous woman-centered care but being unable to” was identified as an overarching theme. Three other themes “emphasis on the non-interventional care”, “midwifery-specific focus” and “barriers and challenges of midwifery care” were also identified. Ultimately, midwives described knowing how to and wanting to lead continuous ‘woman’-centered care but being unable to. Perceived barriers included lack of familiarity with and knowledge in relation to childbirth, the insignificant role of midwives in decision making, obstetrician utilitarianism, high workloads along with work-related stress argument-driven communication between midwives and obstetricians and an absence of a ‘triangle of trust’ in care. Conclusion Future research strategies could usefully include obstetricians and focus on the upscaling of midwifery in Iran using continuity of care models, highlight the value of midwives, identify why uptake of antenatal education in Iran is poor and develop user friendly, evidence based, midwife-led programs. Initiatives aiming to promote mutual professional respect, trust and collegiality and increased remuneration for midwifery work would be also welcomed in pursuit of reducing maternal and infant mortality in Iran.

Background: Covid-19 pandemic has brought drastic changes around the world, revealing the vulnerable aspects of health care systems. The purpose of this study is to explore the paradigm shift of Iranian health system and determine the aspects that need improvement, considering the experience of the recent pandemic. Method: This research is a qualitative and thematic analysis study that was conducted using the content analysis method. Nineteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts from Shiraz University of Medical Sciences and the data was saturated. To increase the accuracy and precision of the study, Guba and Lincoln's four criteria were used. And for data analysis, MAX QDA10 software and Goldsmith's five-step framework analysis were used. Result: The findings identified 8 main themes and 33 subthemes. The main themes included strengthening the electronic health infrastructure, research for evidence-based decision making, dedicated pandemic financing, prevention of disruption in the effective provision of services and drug therapy, enriching the authority of the Ministry of Health by focusing on interactions, recruiting, managing and empowering health human resources and paying attention to financial and non-financial incentives, reforming educational approaches in training students in medical universities, learning lessons from neglects. Conclusion: To be ready to respond to a possible future pandemic, bold steps must be taken to make fundamental changes in various aspects of the health system.

The challenges posed by climate change have increasingly been recognized over the few past decades. This article synthesizes current research on broad themes such as climate change, reducing CO2 emissions, increasing the production of electric cars, etc. Our literature review revealed that much of the research on these topics has focused on the growth rate of motorization, greenhouse gas emissions and technology for the reduction of pollution. However, more recently, scientists have turned their attention to greenhouse gas emissions due to the release of pollutants. Therefore, the authors analyzed the total greenhouse gas emissions per EU country in 2019 and ranked Lithuania among the 28 EU countries. The primary directions for reducing carbon dioxide emissions by driving electric cars are described. A hypothesis is considered, i.e., that investments by transport companies in technological development are related to pollution reduction in Lithuania. The development of new technologies by transport companies has a huge impact on reducing pollution; therefore, it is important to apply more new technologies in future. The paper describes research on Lithuanian transportation enterprises to examine the interactions between the investments by and technological growth of a transportation company. Based on expert assessments and calculations, the relative importance of the components of the transport company’s primary investment measures to minimize pollution are determined. Keywords: motorization rate; climate change; greenhouse gases; technological development; electric cars; transport companies.

This article contributes to the empirical literature on the drivers of eco-innovation within the context of an organizational capability and exploitative strategies towards a circular economy. It explores the dynamics of the determinants of eco-innovation. The aim of this study is to contribute to this debate by analyzing evidence regarding the different factors influencing organizational capabilities in “transformative innovation” to support transition while eliminating obstacles to sustainability. The practical contribution of this paper is a consolidated, complete framework of eco-innovation that provides substantial insights to practitioners and facilitates the spread of eco-innovative practices. This study will benefit policy makers, key institutions, and firms to leverage the organizational capability with the effective implementation of eco-innovation processes towards a circular economy, where structural changes and transformative eco-innovation are the main determinants. However, the exploration of eco-innovation dynamics within a circular economy is still widely disregarded, especially concerning the trends and dynamics in policy-making processes and strategy development. The research employed the multi-criteria SAW method. The purpose of the suggested methodology is to establish the criteria for ranking the drivers of eco-innovation adoption. Research findings indicate the nexus between the drivers in eco-innovation and social behavior, eco-design, infrastructural changes, and political approaches. This study provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the drivers of eco-innovation towards a circular economy with regard to organizational capabilities and exploitative strategies.

Introduction and Objective:Students are one of the groups in society that are always exposed to earthquake-related hazards. Perceived social support plays a major role in students’ self-efficacy to respond appropriately to earthquakes. Social support affects students’ beliefs about their abilities and enhances their performance during earthquakes. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of perceived social support on the promotion of earthquake-related awareness amongst high school students.Methods:The present educational intervention with a randomized control group was conducted on 64 high school students in Lordegan, Iran. The participants were randomly divided into an intervention and a control group. Earthquake-related awareness index and perceived social support were completed by the two groups before, immediately after, and two months after the intervention. The intervention group received 120-minute educational intervention sessions once a week for four weeks. The data were entered into the SPSS 20 software and were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods.Results:According to the results, educational intervention was effective in improving the perceived social support. The results also showed that increasing the perceived social support significantly improved the earthquake-related awareness among the high school students in the intervention group compared to the control group after the intervention (P Conclusion:The findings revealed that perceived social support played a major role in promoting earthquake-related awareness in the high school students. Due to the accuracy of the study, these results can be considered in future investigations.

Background: There has been a significant increase in the number of train crashes worldwide, mainly due to the extension of the rail network and the use of the most sophisticated and cutting-edge technology. Incident Report: The Tehran-Zahedan train had 260 passengers on board and left for Tehran City at 14:50 local time on Wednesday, September 25, 2019. The accident happened at 16:20 local time at 100 km distance from Zahedan City. Results: Five train cars derailed 2 km from Shorou Station, where four people died, and 157 were injured. According to the investigations, the accident occurred due to the unscrewing of some bolts and spring washers. There were 170-180 screws and spring washers removed along 50-60 m, which resulted in the creation of a dangerous point and derailment of the train. This study examined the challenges, strengths, and learned lessons of the incident. Conclusion: Concerning standard and vast rail networks in Iran and the latest train crashes that mainly occurred just outside the cities, accessibility to the accident scene should be considered one of the most important physical vulnerability indexes. As a result, accessibility to special firefighting and rail rescue train car at some stations in crowded routes effectively decreases the consequences of such accidents.

One of the goals of cloud service providers is to satisfy service-level agreements without significant over-provisioning in data center clusters. Efforts to meet these requirements have been mainly based on resource over-provisioning rather than identifying performance bottlenecks. While increasing parallelism tends to reduce the average and tail latency, the joint impact of concurrent job scheduling and parallel task processing is a challenging problem to analytically model, particularly when compared to the models developed without the notion of concurrency. This article presents an analytical model for distributed schedulers in data center cluster networks. The model can be used to investigate how latency can affect a data center network design and how many resources should be allocated to meet service-level agreements. To get better insight, we build upon ideas from queuing networks, which provide a framework to measure expected latency versus resource provisioning. The model is based on tandem queuing networks and fork–join systems to compute expected latency in closed forms at various stages of data center cluster networks. Theoretical analysis and simulations have been conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model and to strike a balance between expected latency and resource utilization. Results obtained from various simulation scenarios on different data center traffic traces confirm the soundness of the model.

Hypothesis: Despite the wide application of nanofiltration (NF) membranes in forward osmosis (FO) process, one of the most important challenges of this process is the internal concentration polarization (ICP) phenomenon. Different methods have been investigated to reduce the effect of this undesirable phenomenon and it is suggested that one of these methods is loading of hydrophilic nanoparticles in the membrane structure. In this study, SiO2/ZIF-8 nanoparticles were used to improve the structure and performance of polyethersulfone membranes (PES) in FO process.Methods: At first, polyethersulfone membrane was synthesized by phase inversion method. In the next step, ZIF-8 and SiO2/ZIF-8 nanoparticles as filler were synthesized at room temperature. Thin film composite membranes were prepared by the interfacial polymerization (IP) of two reactive organic (TMC) and aqueous (MPD) monomers. Finally, the produced membranes and nanocomposite were characterized by contact angle, FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and porosity measurements. Also, the performance of all membranes composed of at least two different components was investigated using reverse and forward osmosisi processes.Finding: The outcomes demonstrated that the presence of a small amount of SiO2/ZIF-8 nanoparticle in the membrane led to an increase in the membrane hydrophilicity and porosity, and also improved the water flux and rejection of the FO. The water flux of TFN FO membrane was reported to increase remarkably from 15.23 to 25.13 L/m2.h when 10 mM NaCl and 2 M NaCl salt were utilized as feed solution (FS) and draw solution (DS), respectively. The improvement in FO water flux was ascribed to the lower S parameter of modified PES sublayer and the reduction of internal concentration polarization (ICP).

The incorporation of functional nanoparticles in polyamide (PA) membranes is an efficient procedure for the thin film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes development with enhanced desalination efficiency. Our aim was to synthesize forward osmosis process (FOP) membranes incorporated with PIP-functionalized ZnO (P.ZnO) nanoparticles, which were produced with surface functionalities groups of amine, epoxy and hydroxyl. The outcomes of FTIR confirmed the synthesis of P.ZnO nanoparticles, while WCA, AFM and FESEM supported the alterations in chemical and physical attributes of the FOP membranes surface upon P.ZnO nanoparticles incorporation. In both reverse osmosis process (ROP) and FOP tests, outcomes illustrated that the TFN-P.ZnO0.03 membrane was the most promising FOP and ROP membrane as it exhibited 119% higher pure water flux (PWF) (in FOP test) than the base FOP membrane. In terms of FOP membrane fouling propensity, the TFN-P.ZnO0.03 membrane also illustrated lower fouling propensity compared to the base membrane. Our outcomes have provided novel intuition into the structure-efficiency correlation of TFN FOP membranes and can be advantageous for the synthesis of the wide confinement of nanoparticles incorporated FOP membranes.

EXCLI Journal; 20:Doc297; ISSN 1611-2156

Information technology and its implications have shown significant developments in the last decades. The internet revolution and digital marketing have created a shrinking force on mass media advertising. They have formed the backbone of personalisation, marketing automation, neuromarketing, viral marketing, voice recognition, and conversion optimisation, and thus, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has risen as the phenomenon in marketing activities. Theoretical analysis of relevant researches on AI tools and future trends, presentation of conceptual framework and methodology design, and presentation of the research findings are the objectives of the research. This study has potential limitations such as the data collection process and access to the relevant literature. AI for marketing has already become a significant part of today’s competitive world, which utilising the marketing opportunities to obtain business goals and create breakthrough using AI. Hence, this paper aims to illustrate the theoretical review on the nexus between AI and marketing, which would lead to understanding the future scope of AI and its penetration in marketing activities.

In this study, an adsorptive ceramic membrane coated by new layer of cage-like mesoporous silica SBA_16 which was modified with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) was employed to remove (Cr (VI)) ions from aqueous solution. The morphologies and physiochemical properties of SBA_16 and modified SBA_16 (NH2-SBA_16) adsorbents as well as adsorptive membranes were characterized through thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The adsorption isotherm data perfectly was fitted to Langmuir isotherm model and the adsorption capacity value of NH2-SBA_16 for Cr (VI) at pH of 2.5 was 61.9 mg/g. The experimental kinetic data agreed with pseudo-second-order model. The dynamic filtration test in dead-end system was utilized to evaluate the efficiency of ceramic membranes in hexavalent chromium removal. The modification of ceramic membrane (CM2) resulted in an excellent Cr (VI) removal (100 %) for permeate stream. Aminopropyl grafting on the ceramic membrane significantly enhanced the permeate flux from 56 L/m2h to 85.6 L/m2h. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been performed and the adsorption energy of Cr (VI) on NH2-SBA_16 was obtained 131.25 kJ/mol.

Background and objectives: Radiation accidents can cause numerous challenges to hospitals, the appropriate medical responses to which may save the lives of countless people. The present study aimed at the design and validation of an Emergency Department preparedness questionnaire for hospital emergency departments (EDs) in the case of radiation accidents, nuclear accidents, and nuclear terrorism in Iran. Materials and methods: This multistage cross-sectional study was conducted in 2019. The questionnaire items were created with the reference to article reviews and expert judgement. The validity of the questionnaire was assessed through face, content, and construct validities. Additionally, its reliability was estimated using measures of internal consistency and stability, namely Cronbach ’ s alpha and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). To this end, the questionnaire was completed by the ED staff in the hospitals of Iran. Results: The proposed 48-item questionnaire consisted of three themes: staff preparedness, stuff preparedness, and structure preparedness. The face and content validities were confirmed by expert judgement. All items remained with content validity ratio (CVR) > 0.7 and the mean content validity index (CVI) = 0.891. The overall Cronbach ’ s alpha and ICC were 0.781 and 0.709, respectively for the whole questionnaire. Conclusion: Hospital ED preparedness in radiation and nuclear accidents requires readiness of staff, stuff, and structure of the ED, the consideration of which will properly respond to radiation and nuclear accidents. Thus, upstream organizations like the Ministry of Health and the Emergency Organization should oblige hospital EDs to make themselves be more prepared by codifying certain imperative laws and policies.

This paper presents a novel approach using sulfonated polyethersulfone/zeolitic imidazolate framework (SPES/ZIF-8) porous nanocomposite substrate to enhance the salt rejection and water flux of forward osmosis (FO) membrane. The effect of SPES/ZIF-8 substrate on FO membrane properties containing morphologies, hydrophilicity, water permeability and salt rejection were investigated and completely discussed. Based on the obtained results, the selectivity and permeability of thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) FO membranes can be improved simultaneously through adjusting the both hydrophilic and hydrophobic characteristics. But these two results, is achieved in two different processes and with reverse impacts. After the sulfonation process and using the more hydrophilic polymer (SPES) instead of the neat PES, the porosity and consequently the water flux was increased. Because of more hydrophilicity of SPES which reduces the cross-linking degree of the corresponding polyamide (PA) layer, the salt rejection was reduced. In contrast, after the incorporation of ZIF-8 into the SPES substrate, the salt rejection was increased due to the hydrophobic nature of these nanoparticles (NPs). In terms of both salt rejection and water flux, the sulfonated TFN membrane with 0.5% ZIF-8 NPs (TFN-S0.5 membrane) showed the improved results comparing with the bare Thin-film composite (TFC) membrane. Furthermore, the best result for the ratio of reverse salt flux to water flux (Js/Jw) as the selectivity parameter, was about 0.16 g/L using 10 mM and 2 M NaCl solutions as the feed solution (FS) and the draw solution (DS), respectively, in the FO experiment. Also, the structural parameter (S) which is believed to have a strong relationship with the internal concentration polarization (ICP), was decreased to 0.39 nm as the best result, after modification of FO membrane.

Cyanogen halides are a group of highly toxic and colorless compounds. Their presence in the environment and direct contact with these compounds can be dangerous. So finding a reliable and accurate sensor for these compounds can be very beneficial. In this study, the adsorption of cyanogen halides (XCN, X = F, Cl, and Br) on 2PANI was investigated, using UB3LYP/6-31G*(d) as a DFT method. The binding energies between 2PANI and XCN were calculated. Also, Mulliken charge transfer (QMulliken), molecular electrostatic potential (MEP) and the global indices of activities were calculated and orbital analyses were performed. Based on our results, it can be found that at proper configuration the FCN, ClCN, and BrCN molecules can be adsorbed on 2PANI with adsorption energies (Eads) of –9.975, –11.025, and –26.510 kJ/mol, respectively. As a result, 2PANI can be used as a useful, portable, and cheap sensor for cyanogen halides.

Cerium fluoride (CeF(3)) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized and applied in polysulfone (PS) membrane fabricated by phase inversion method. The produced nanocomposite membranes (PS/CeF(3)) with different contents of CeF3 NPS (0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75% and 1% w/w) were used to treat pharmaceutical wastewaters. The membranes were characterized by FESEM, EDX, XRD, FTIR, porosity, and water contact angle analyses. Evaluation of the characteristics and performance of the nanocomposite membranes confirmed that utilizing photocatalytic CeF(3) NPs in membrane structure could effectively decompose organic contaminants in pharmaceutical wastewaters. It also improves the hydrophilicity and antifouling ability of membrane during filtration especially, in the presence of UV irradiation. The permeate flux of the PS membrane increased from 35.1 to 63.77 l/m(2)h by embedding 0.75% of CeF(3) NPs in membrane structure due to the porosity enhancement from 71.36–78.42% and the decrease in contact angle from 62.9º to 53.73º. Moreover, the flux decline of PS/CeF(3)-0.75% membrane under UV irradiation was from 63.6 to 46.1 l/m(2)h that considerably lower than that of the neat PS membrane (from 34.7 to 4.9). On the other hand, the degradation efficiency of PS/CeF(3)-0.75% membrane was more than 97%, and COD removed was more than 65% while they were 75% and 31%, respectively for the nascent PS membrane. Therefore, applying the appropriate amount of CeF(3) NPs in PS membranes not only greatly increased the permeate flux but also significantly enhanced the degradation efficiency and COD removal. This indicates that nanocomposite membranes can be confidently applied for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment UV irradiation. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s40201-020-00534-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

INTRODUCTION: Fars is a disaster-prone province which is affected by a myriad of disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, fires, and traffic accidents. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate the disaster risk of hospitals in Fars province in 2017. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in 2017. Out of 90 hospitals in Fars province, 51 centers cooperated in the presented study. Six prevalent disasters and crises in Fars province were identified using the recorded incidents in the last 20 years in the Emergency Operation Center (EOC) of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. A book entitled "National tools for the assessment of risks and indicators of specialized competencies of the health sector in response to hazards and disasters (risk map), which was written for the Ministry of Health of Iran in 2014, was used to assess and obtain the risk score. The maximum and minimum risk scores were obtained at 95 and 19, respectively, and the data were analyzed in Excel 2016. FINDINGS: The mean and standard deviation of the obtained scores for different hazards were reported as 56.039±175.785 (earthquake), 45.962 ± 322.17 (seasonal flood), 575.786.195±19.57 (drought), 909.18±686.36 (chemical threats), 47.764±18.066 (human-caused fires), and 50.235±15.709 (power outage). In most hospitals, the risk of earthquakes and the negative impact of drought were higher than other hazards, while the chemical threats obtained the lowest score. CONCLUSION: Since Fars province is a disaster-prone area, the risk assessment should be periodically performed at short intervals to identify hazards with higher risk scores and implement corrective measures in this regard.

We have investigated the characteristics of a hetero-dielectric ferroelectric tunnel (HD-FeTFET). Extensive simulations show that using a hetero-dielectric gate architecture in the lateral direction (non-ferroelectric/ferroelectric/non-ferroelectric) results in more desirable analog/RF characteristics. The proposed structure is compared with conventional tunnel field effect transistors (TFETs) and ferroelectric TFET (FeTFET). Simulation results manifest that HD-FeTFET is superior to other compared structures, and benefits from both ferroelectric and hetero-dielectric structure. Negative capacitance effect in ferroelectric causes a step-up voltage transformer, as a result the subthreshold swing decreases. Owing to two different dielectric constants in the hetero-dielectric structure, the electric field enhances; thereby, the on-state current increases. In this paper, important analog/RF figures of merit, such as cut-off frequency (fT), maximum oscillation frequency (fmax), transconductance frequency product, and intrinsic time delay (τ), are investigated. Also, linearity parameters including VIP2, VIP3, IIP3, and the 1-dB compression point are considered. We achieve average sub-threshold swing of 14 mV for 5 decades for HD-FeTFET, and is improved by ∼ 48% and ∼ 30% for TFET and FeTFET, respectively. Moreover, the ION/IOFF ratio and the on-state current for the proposed structure are 1011 and 5.3 × 10−7 (A/μm), respectively.

Hadoop MapReduce is a framework to process vast amounts of data in the cluster of machines in a reliable and fault-tolerant manner. Since being aware of the runtime of a job is crucial to subsequent decisions of this platform and being better management, in this paper we propose a new method to estimate the runtime of a job. For this purpose, after analysis the anatomy of processing a job in Hadoop MapReduce precisely, we consider two cases: when a job runs for the first time or a job has run previously. In the first case, by considering essential and efficient parameters that higher impact on runtime we formulate each phase of the Hadoop execution pipeline and state them by mathematical expressions to calculate runtime of a job. In the second case, by referring to the profile or history of a job in the database and use a weighting system the runtime is estimated. The results show the average error rate is less than 12% in the estimation of runtime for the first run and less than 8.5% when the profile or history of the job has existed.

In this work polysulfonamide membranes are presented that are prepared by the interfacial polymerization of polyethylenimine (PEI) and benzene-1,3-disulfonyl chloride (BDSC) on porous polyvinylidenefluorid support membrane. The thin film composite (TFC) polysulfonamide membranes show superior acid stability as compared to conventional polysulfonamide membranes that are derived from monomeric amine and benzene-1,3-disulfonyl chloride. The polysulfonamide membranes show exceptionally strong resistance towards nucleophilic attack induced by extreme acidic conditions. This is verified by the dyes rejection performance in 20%(w/v) H2SO4 and 2.5%(w/v) HNO3 aqueous solution at 70 ± 5 °C for 24 h. PEI-PSA and PEI/PIP-PSA membranes were considerably stable in two acids. In contrast, the durability of PEI/MPD-PSA was lower than the other two. The changes in CV and MO dye rejection were −3.15% and −2.19%, and −1.11%, −5.6% for PEI-PSA and PEI/PIP-PSA, respectively after H2SO4 soaking while they were −20% and −15.9% for PEI/MPD-PSA. Moreover, the changes in CV and MO dye rejection were −15.7% and −14.3%, and −7.8%, −5.7 % for PEI-PSA and PEI/PIP-PSA, respectively after HNO3 soaking while they were −17.7% and −10.2% for PEI/MPD-PSA.

Background. Emergency is generally caused by natural disaster and infectious disease outbreaks, or it is man-made. Floods are natural phenomena that generally appear in multiple parts of the world. Flooding is one of the most destructive naturally occurring environmental hazards and can cause public, infrastructural, and environmental damage. The purpose of this study is to select alternative water resources for supplying Bandar Abbas in flood disasters by multicriteria decision-making techniques. Methods. Information required includes possible water resources alternative for flood, quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the water resources, climatic circumstances, and demographic information used in organizations data and previous studies. After selecting and proposing water resources alternative for Bandar Abbas in flood, the subcriteria were weighed applying DANP (DEMATEL-ANP) techniques and water resources were prioritized with the VIKOR technique. According to the network structure and internal and external dependence of the criteria and subcriteria, the advantages of DANP in calculating weights have been used to adapt to more real-world problems. The VIKOR technique was developed for multicriteria optimization of complex systems. Results. After reviewing and extracting the criteria from various studies, 9 main criteria and 44 subcriteria were defined to select water resources in disasters and emergencies. According to field studies and related organizations’ information, the proposed water resources for Bandar Abbas to use in flood disasters include humidity, sea (Persian Gulf), Sarkhoon plain, and wastewater treatment plant of Bandar Abbas. Conclusion. Results showed that the optimal water resources for Bandar Abbas in flood disasters are the sea and wastewater treatment plant effluent (after advanced treatment). The study proposed appropriate model to select optimal water resources for various natural disasters in different geographical areas. This model can help officials and decision-makers to plan for drinking water supply from disaster-prone areas before disasters occur.