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Abstract In this study, we report observations of propagating radial carpet beams (RCBs) through a turbulent atmosphere at ground level with a 120 m path length. RCBs are a class of nondiffracting, accelerating, self-healing, and self-amplifying beams, and generated in the diffraction of a plane wave from amplitude/phase radial gratings having different spoke numbers. Observations were made at different times of the day. The intensity profile of an RCB becomes complicated when the number of grating spokes used to generate the beam is large, and includes high intensity spots, called main intensity spots (MISs), which are symmetrically placed at the central area around the beam axis and whose number is equal to (twice) the number of spokes of the amplitude (phase) grating used to generate the beam. With the aid of a telescope and a CCD camera, successive frames of the intensity pattern of the RCBs having different levels of structural complexity are recorded at the end of the path. For the data recorded at different times of the day, we calculate the variance of displacements of MISs along the radial direction. We observe that displacements of the MISs increase with increasing mean temperature of the air; on the other hand, as the complexity of the beam intensity pattern increases, the displacements of the MISs decrease. In order to compare the resilience of different RCBs and a well-known structured beam against atmospheric turbulence, we investigate deformation of the intensity profiles of a Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) beam having a topological charge 20 and different RCBs at the end of the path. It is shown that under the same turbulence condition, highly complex RCBs are more resilient to the destructive effects of the atmospheric turbulence. In particular, for the RCBs generated with gratings having 30 spokes and more, the number of MISs of the received intensity patterns is changed by less than 1% even when the turbulence strength is high. But for the LG beam, its intensity ring is clearly broken in different places, which makes it impossible to follow its maximum intensity in the radial direction

Abstract The development of deposition processes for metal carbide thin films is rapidly advancing, driven by their potential for applications including catalysis, batteries, and semiconductor devices. Within this landscape, atomic layer deposition (ALD) offers exceptional conformality, uniformity, and thickness control on spatially complex structures. This paper presents a comprehensive study on the thermal ALD of MoCx with MoCl5 and 1,4‐bis(trimethylgermyl)‐1,4‐dihydropyrazine [(Me3Ge)2DHP] as precursors, focusing on the functional properties and characterization of the films. The depositions are conducted at 200–300 °C and very smooth films with RMS Rq ≈0.3–0.6 nm on Si, TiN, and HfO2 substrates are obtained. The process has a high growth rate of 1.5 Å cycle−1 and the films appear to be continuous already after 5 cycles. The films are conductive even at thicknesses below 5 nm, and films above 18 nm exhibit superconductivity up to 4.4 K. In lieu of suitable references, Raman modes for molybdenum carbides and nitrides are calculated and X‐ray diffraction and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy are used for phase analysis.

The modular multilevel converter (MMC) is a favored topology in the industry, but its reliability is at risk with an increase in the number of sub-modules (SMs) due to a rise in switching components. The essential need for maintaining capacitor voltage balance in each arm leads to increased complexity and cost, as numerous voltage sensors are required. This study introduces an innovative approach to minimize the number of voltage sensors by employing an enhanced algorithm for open-circuit fault detection in switches. The proposed scheme organizes each arm into groups, each containing two SMs and one voltage sensor, aiming to reduce the overall sensor count. A novel fault detection mechanism is presented, identifying open-circuit faults by comparing group output voltages in healthy and defective conditions. The capacitor voltage estimation algorithm in the sensor reduction scheme is noted for its simplicity compared to other methods. The effectiveness of these methods is validated through simulations and experimental implementations across diverse scenarios, affirming their reliability.

AbstractTask-based language teaching (TBLT) has occupied an important place in the field of language education; however, some of TBLT dimensions that pertain to the interaction between task design features, written corrective feedback (WCF), and learners’ performance have not received adequate attention in past studies. To fill this gap, the current study investigates how task complexity, task condition, and their interaction determine language learners’ gain from WCF. To conduct the study, 223 participants were randomly assigned into three experimental and one control groups. Participants in the experimental groups received a pretest, followed by three treatment sessions, during which they completed simple or complex writing tasks either individually or collaboratively. They received feedback on their performance and finally completed two posttests. Participants in the control group received pretest, posttest, and regular classroom instruction (instead of the treatment), but they did not receive WCF. Results of statistical analyses demonstrated that task implementation condition had a more highlighted role than task complexity in determining learners’ gain from WCF, but the interplay between the two variables didn’t affect participants’ writing complexity and accuracy. These findings lend partial support to Skehan’s Tradeoff Hypothesis and to Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of language development. Implications for language instructors and syllabus designers will be discussed.

Abstract Raman spectroscopy is a widely-used non-destructive material characterization method, which provides information about the vibrational modes of the material and therefore of its atomic structure and chemical composition. Interpretation of the spectra requires comparison to known references and to this end, experimental databases of spectra have been collected. Reference Raman spectra could also be simulated using atomistic first-principles methods but these are computationally demanding and thus the existing databases of computational Raman spectra are fairly small. In this work, we developed an optimized workflow to calculate the Raman spectra efficiently and taking full advantage of the phonon properties found in existing material databases. The workflow was benchmarked and validated by comparison to experiments and previous computational methods for select technologically relevant material systems. Using the workflow, we performed high-throughput calculations for a large set of materials (5099) belonging to many different material classes, and collected the results to a database. Finally, the contents of database are analyzed and the calculated spectra are shown to agree well with the experimental ones.

Introduction: The effectiveness of two soft and hard splint thicknesses in reducing temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain and dysfunction was compared. Materials and Methods: Sixty patients with TMJ pain and dysfunction were randomly assigned to four groups (n=15); the patients treated with hard occlusal splints of 1 and 3mm thicknesses were assigned to Groups A and B, respectively, and those treated with soft occlusal splints of 1 and 3mm thicknesses were assigned to Groups C and D, respectively. Maximum mouth opening (MMO) and the severity of pain based on the visual analog scale (VAS) were assessed before treatment and after 7, 30 and 90 days. Results: After both 7 and 30 days, no significant differences were found between the groups for any variable (P>0.05). However, Group C had a significantly lower MMO compared to Groups A and B after 90 days (P=0.001). Additionally, and in relation to masticatory muscle pain, Group C had a significantly higher VAS score than other groups (P

Abstract Objective To examine the association of age, period, and birth cohort with body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) changes among the participants of the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study from 1999 to 2015. Methods This prospective cohort study included 4895 participants aged ≥20 years (41.3% men), who were divided into twelve gender stratified groups, having a ten-year age difference between them. Analyses were conducted to explicitly assess the association of age vs. period on BMI and WC changes. In addition, we evaluated BMI and WC changes among different birth cohorts. Results Upon 15 years of follow-up, the mean BMI of men and women increased from 26.0 ± 3.9 to 27.5 ± 4.3 kg/m2 and from 27.5 ± 4.8 to 29.9 ± 5.4 kg/m2 (P trend

Abstract As nanoelectronic devices based on 2D materials are moving toward maturity, optimization of the properties of the active 2D material must be accompanied by equal attention to optimizing the properties of and the interfaces to the other materials around it, such as electrodes, gate dielectrics, and the substrate. While these are usually either 2D or 3D materials, recently K. Liu et al. [Nat. Electron. 4, 906 (2021)] reported on the use of 0D material, consisting of vdW‐bonded Sb2O3 clusters, as a highly promising insulating substrate and gate dielectric. Here, a computational screening study to find promising 0D materials for use in nanoelectronics applications, in conjunction with 2D materials in particular, is reported. By combining a database and literature searches, 16 materials belonging to 6 structural prototypes are found with high melting points and high band gaps, and a range of static dielectric constants. Additional first‐principles calculations are carried out to evaluate selected technologically relevant material properties, and it is confirmed that all these materials are van der Waals‐bonded, thus allowing for facile separation of 0D clusters from the 3D host and only weakly perturbing the electronic properties of the 2D material after deposition.

Background: Spiritual practices have recently emerged as beneficial to both mental and physical health. The present study was conducted to determine the effect of spiritual counseling on hope among patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Methods: This single blind randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on the patients with MS in April-June 2020, Kashan, Iran. 50 patients were randomly assigned to two 25-member groups. The patients in the intervention group participated in eight 60-minute spiritual counseling program. They were asked to fill out the demographic information questionnaire before the intervention and Herth Hope Index (HHI) before, immediately (in the 4th week of the study) and a month after the intervention (in the 8th week of the study). Data were analyzed using Chi-square, independent samples t-test and repeated measures ANOVA in SPSS version 16. The significance level was considered p 0.05) and the mean score of hope (P=0.61). However, the total mean score of HHI in the intervention group was significantly different from the control group immediately and a month after the intervention (44.95±1.42 VS. 31.66±2.45 and 43.25±1.84 VS. 30.58±2.24), respectively (p

The seed-eater wasp, Bruchophagus verbasci (Erdös, 1969) comb. nov. (Hymenoptera: Chalcidoidea, Eurytomidae) is newly quoted from Iran. This species was originally described in the genus Eurytoma Illiger, 1807. Considering its morphological characters and the new finding of its biological association with some fabaceous plants, it was transferred to the genus, Bruchophagus Ashmead, 1888. It was redescribed and illustrated. Two fabaceous plant species, Astragalus brachydonatus Boiss. and Trigonella montana C. A. Mey. are revealed as host plants of B. verbasci for the first time. It is a new record for France, Morocco, and Turkey.

Anaplasma phagocytophilum is a gram-negative obligate intracellular tick-borne rickettsia with veterinary and public health importance worldwide. This organism is an etiologic agent of tick-borne fever (TBF) in domesticated animals and human granulocytic anaplasmosis (HGA) as well. Hard ticks (Ixodida: Ixodidae) are incriminated as the main biologic vectors for Anaplasma spp. Studies represent that Ixodes spp. are the main vectors for A. phago-cytophilum and few reports hinted that other tick species may play this role. So, the goal of the presented work was to investigate the A. phagocytophilum in 2000 hard ticks in Khuzestan province of Iran by specific nested-PCR performing two consecutive amplifications of 16SrRNA gene fragment with highly variable nucleotide region. Each reaction included 10 salivary glands of distinct tick species. Specific nested-PCR on accumulated salivary glands detected specific bands in 15.5% of reactions (31 of 200) in electrophoresis only in Rhipicephalus sanguineous and Hyalomma marginatum ticks. We concluded that the broad distribution of A. phagocytophilum infection is not only is due to the existence of Ixodes spp. but other hard ticks may also play a role in this issue.

Currently, air pollution and energy consumption are the main issues in the transportation area in large urban cities. In these cities, most people choose their transportation mode according to corresponding utility including traveller's and trip’s characteristics. Also, there is no effective solution in terms of population growth, urban space, and transportation demands, so it is essential to optimize systematically travel demands in the real network of roads in urban areas, especially in congested areas. Travel Demand Management (TDM) is one of the well-known ways to solve these problems. TDM defined as a strategy that aims to maximize the efficiency of the urban transport system by granting certain privileges for public transportation modes, Enforcement on the private car traffic prohibition in specific places or times, increase in the cost of using certain facilities like parking in congested areas. Network pricing is one of the most effective methods of managing transportation demands for reducing traffic and controlling air pollution especially in the crowded parts of downtown. A little paper may exist that optimize urban transportations in busy parts of cities with combined Markov decision making processes with reward and evolutionary-based algorithms and simultaneously considering customers’ and trip’s characteristics. Therefore, we present a new network traffic management for urban cities that optimizes a multi-objective function that related to the expected value of the Markov decision system’s reward using the Genetic Algorithm. The planned Shiraz city is taken as a benchmark for evaluating the performance of the proposed approach. At first, an analysis is also performed on the impact of the toll levels on the variation of the user and operator cost components, respectively. After choosing suitable values for the network parameters, simulation of the Markov decision process and GA is dynamically performed, then the optimal decision for the Markov decision process in terms of total reward is obtained. The results illustrate that the proposed cordon pricing has significant improvement in performance for all seasons including spring, autumn, and winter.

Fauna of pycnonotic oribatid mites (Acari: Oribatida) in Eest Azerbaijan province was studied during 2014–2016. In this survey, 27 species belonging to 25 genera, 19 families and 13 superfamilies were collected and identified, of which the species Hypocepheus mirabilis Krivolutsky, 1971; Oppiella (Oppiella) nova palustris Laskova, 1980 and Suctobelbella (Suctobelbella) acutidens sarekensis (Forsslund, 1941)are recorded for the first time from Iran. Also an additional description is provided for Licnodamaeus inaequalis (Balogh & Mahunka, 1965) based on specimens collected from the East Azerbaijan province. Moreover, a checklist and an identification key of 27 pycnonotic oribatid mite species collected in this survey, is presented.

We determined the impact of Photobiomodulation (PBM) and metformin administration alone and combined on the inflammation and proliferation steps of wound healing of incisions in type two diabetes mellitus (T2DM) rats. 40 rats were divided into 4 groups (n = 10 each group). A non-genetic model of T2DM was induced in all rats, and an incision was made on each rat. There were 4 groups as follows: Group 1 was control group. Group 2 received PBM alone (890 nm, 80 Hz, 0.324 J/cm2, daily). Group 3 received metformin alone (50 mg/kg, i.p., daily) and the fourth group received combination of PBM + metformin. At inflammation (day 4) and proliferation (day 7) steps, tensiometerical, stereological, and immunohistochemical examinations were performed. PBM and PBM + metformin treatments significantly increased wound strength at inflammation and proliferation steps of wound healing respectively. PBM, metformin, and PBM + metformin groups significantly decreased inflammatory cells at inflammation and proliferation steps of wound healing. PBM, metformin, and PBM + metformin groups significantly improved granulation tissue formation by increasing fibroblasts, and new blood vessel formation at inflammation and proliferation steps of wound healing. Metformin significantly increased M2 macrophages than other treatment groups at inflammation and proliferation steps of wound healing. Simultaneously, PBM significantly decreased M2 macrophages than control group. We concluded PBM and PBM + metformin treatments significantly hastened repair at the inflammation and proliferation steps of repairing skin injury in a non-genetic model of T2 DM. PBM + metformin showed a synergistic impact. There were not a positive relation between M2 macrophage number and wound strength in the studied groups. The details of the molecular mechanisms of PBM, and PBM + metformin treatments of repairing wounds in animals, and treatment of DFUs of patients with T2 DM should be elucidated by further research.

A faunestic study on Stigmaeidae and Cryptognathidae families in Lorestan province was carried out during 2012-2013. In this study 18 species were collected and identified, of which Favognathus amygdalus and F. cordylus (Cryptognathidae) were new records for Iranian fauna, also all of the collected species in this study were new records for fauna of Lorestan province. Stigmaeidae with 14 species and Cryptognatidae with four species had the highest and lowest number of identified species, respectively.

Cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) is one of the most destructive insect pests on many crops in the world that has been found to develop resistance against conventional insecticides. Using insecticides with different modes of action may result in appropriate control of the pest and delay insecticide resistance development. In this study, lethal and sublethal effects of emamectin benzoate and cypermethrin insecticides were investigated on third instar larvae of H. armigera by residue contact methods at 26 ± 1 oC, 70 ± 5% RH and a photoperiod of 16:8h (L: D) under laboratory conditions. LC50 values, on larval stage of the pest, of emamectin benzoate and cypermethrin were 1.75 and 127.74 µg a.i./ml, respectively. According to the findings, the larvae that were exposed to the LC30 of emamectin benzoate and cypermethrin exhibited lower pupal weight and increased larval and pupal developmental times compared with control. The longevity and fecundity of adults were significantly affected by the insecticides. Emamectin benzoate and cypermethrin reduced fecundity by 53.1% and 50.5%, respectively compared to control. The LC30 values of emamectin benzoate and cypermethrin reduced egg hatching by 62.06% and 37.9%, respectively. It is predicted that these insecticides, especially emamectin benzoate, may induce significant effects on population of H. armigera.

BACKGROUND:Verbal autopsy (VA) is one method to obtain valid estimates of causes of death in the absence of valid medical records. We tested the reliability and validity of a VA questionnaire developed for a cohort study in Golestan Province in northeastern Iran. METHOD:A modified version of the WHO adult verbal autopsy was used to assess the cause of death in the first 219 Golestan Cohort Study (GCS) subjects who died. The GCS cause of death was determined by two internists who independently reviewed all available medical records. Two other internists ("reviewers") independently reviewed only the VA answers and classified the cause of death into one of nine general categories; they repeated this evaluation one month later. The reliability of the VA was measured by calculating intra-reviewer and inter-reviewer kappa statistics. The validity of the VA was measured using the GCS cause of death as the gold standard. RESULTS:VA showed both good validity (sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV all above 0.81) and reliability (kappa>0.75) in determining the general cause of death independent of sex and place of residence. The overall multi-rater agreement across four reviews was 0.84 (95%CI: 0.78-0.89). The results for identifying specific cancer deaths were also promising, especially for upper GI cancers (kappa = 0.95). The multi-rater agreement in cancer subgroup was 0.93 (95%CI: 0.85-0.99). CONCLUSIONS:VA seems to have good reliability and validity for determining the cause of death in a large-scale adult follow up study in a predominantly rural area of a middle-income country.

The present study attempted to investigate the status of pragmatics among Iranian EFL learners. Status of pragmatics was analyzed in terms of the amount of pragmatic knowledge EFL learners believed to have and the amount of pragmatic knowledge they believed to receive from teachers, classmates, course books, and exams. Additionally, attempts were made to find out whether or not there is a significant difference between male and female EFL learners in terms of pragmatic awareness. Results showed that Iranian EFL learners were aware of the importance of pragmatics and attributed a high level of pragmatic awareness to their teachers, but believed that they did not receive enough pragmatic knowledge from their teachers. The frequent method used by their teachers to teach pragmatics was error correction. Besides, learners believed that their classmates did not care enough about pragmatics, and course book and exams, from their point of view, did not cover enough pragmatic information. Gender played a significant role in pragmatic awareness of Iranian EFL learners.