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The central subject of this study is the economic analysis of Quality Assurance (QA) in the German healthcare system. With the help of the study, an estimate of the total costs in the German healthcare market shall be given. The focus of the analysis is on Companies, Political Bodies, Liberal Professions and Public Corporations which are part of the healthcare system including Certification Bodies, which lead to costs from using QA and interacting with the healthcare system. First, a systematic literature search was conducted to determine the costs. It was found that there are no articles or publications that address the topic of the total cost of QA. A continuation/update of existing studies was therefore not possible. To be able to estimate the total costs of QA in the German healthcare market, the QA costs were surveyed using a bottom-up analysis. After identifying organizations and collecting relevant data, the total costs of QA in the German healthcare market were estimated using a mathematical calculation. In general, ensuring quality is an original part of the actions of all professional groups and institutions working in the health care system. Due to this importance, it is remarkable that an economic analysis of the total costs has never taken place before. One reason for this may be the ”complexity of the German health care system”. Furthermore, the costs of QA are not listed separately, but as part of general administrative expenses. Controlling and transparent presentation of the costs is therefore not possible. The cost estimation and the database created for this study about the parties involved in QA in the German healthcare market can be a useful support for further studies in this field of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The Central Zagros Region of Iran located in West Iran comprises delightful oak forests of the Mediterranean type. In this study, plant species diversity of this region is investigated by using data of species in 25 sites (local floras), including Sefidkouh mountain area in the center of the region. With its area of 110 000 hectares and 1000-2060 m elevation a.s.l., the latter is introduced as the richest site comprising 180 previously unreported species occurring in the Central Zagros Region. Multivariate analysis of the species occurrence data has grouped the local floras into five main clusters revealing the floristic structure of this region. Our results showed that multivariate analysis of the species occurrence is a useful tool for floristic regionalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N1,N1'-(6-methoxy-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diyl)dibenzene-1,4-diamine (MTDA) containing triazine ring structure was synthesized and characterized. A new, montmorillonite (Mt) modified by MTDA (MTDA-Mt), was prepared by ion-exchange of sodium montmorillonite (Na+-Mt) with protonated form of MTDA. It was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) techniques. The results of XRD indicated that MTDA had intercalated with Na+-Mt. A new polyamide (PA) containing triazine ring was synthesized by direct polycondensation reaction of 4,4'-(6-methoxy-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diyl)bis(azanediyl)dibenzoic acid and 4,4'-diaminodiphenylether and characterized. PA/MTDA-Mt nanocomposites containing 4 and 8 mass% of MTDA-Mt were prepared via blending of MTDA-Mt with the PA by solution intercalation technique in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone. The nanostructures and properties of the PA/MTDA-Mt nanocomposites were investigated using different techniques. Transmission electron microscopy and XRD results revealed the good dispersion nano silicate layers in the polymer matrix. Thermal properties and flame retardancy of the resulting PA/MTDA-Mt nanocomposites were investigated by thermal gravimetry analyses and microscale combustion calorimetry techniques. The results showed that the addition of MTDA-Mt enhanced the flame retardancy of PA, reflecting the decrease in heat release rate from 111 W/g for PA to 91 and 77 W g-1 for PA/MTDA-Mt nanocomposites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relationships between species of Lolium and Festuca have long been an interesting subject in taxonomy of the subtribe Loliineae. This study was concerned with the phenetic relationships of Lolium s.l. (including Festuca subgen. Schedonorus) using flavonoids spot profiles and quantitative morphological characters. Measurement of morphological characters and densitometry of flavonoids spots and their profile plots were performed by using calibrated digital images and ImageJ software package. Multivariate analyses (clustering and ordination) performed by using NTSYS-pc software package. Each species was described based on its flavonoid spot profile, and Rf values and percentage of each spot in the corresponding profile were reported. Variation in flavonoid spot profiles of Lolium rigidum, L. perenne and Festuca pratensis revealed that flavonoids spot profiles revealed that they may be useful characters for further studying the variations within the species level. Cluster analysis of quantitative morphological characters separated the species in well defined groups and further separated L. persicum population Ardabil from other L. persicum populations. Separation of F. arundinacea populations into two distinct groups was also interesting which suggested that the existence of two forms of this species in Iran is probable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precision and certitude of plant scientific names in floristic inventories are requisites for their validity and applicability in software systems to reach a higher level in floristics knowledge. This paper introduces and makes available an open source software entitled "CheckName". CheckName software comprises a list of scientific names for plants of Iran, which is obtained via integration and correction of published floristic lists in Iran. The list is held in the checname software and helps to integrate unpublished floristic inventories or for making new floristic lists. In making new floristic lists, scientific names are chosen from a list and the addition of authorities and protologue, or reporting the sorted lists would be performed by the software. In correcting an inventory of plant names, the program will correct the list for typing issues and parses each line of the list into genus and species and checks for correctness of their spelling. If a scientific name is not verified, the correct spelling might be suggested. Other applications of this software includes the online connection to IPNI, TROPICOS, NCBI, PubMed databases to receive relevant information for each name. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Certain chemical and biological parameters of the plants including secondary metabolite accumulation are affected during the establishment of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis. Since, secondary metabolites are important from many aspects like food and pharmaceutical industries and also plant defense system, many studies are focused on the effects of fungal inoculation on different growth parameters and secondary production in plants. In this study, after simultaneous inoculation of licorice seeds with two fungal species Glomus mosseae and G. intraradices effects of inoculation on growth parameters and secondary production in 6-mounths old samples were assessed. Percentage of colonization, plant growth parameters, phosphorus and zinc, amount of glycyrrhizin, the total phenolic compounds and total flavonoids were measured. Results showed that length of roots and stems were increased as well as the number of leaflets, fresh and dry weights of seedlings, as compared to the control plants. Amount of phosphorus and zinc were also increased in inoculated samples compared to the controls. Significant increases were also observed in secondary compounds of roots of the 6-mounths old plants (phenolic compounds, total flavonoids and glycyrrhizin) compared to the control samples. Results showed that simultaneous inoculation of licorice seeds with mycorrhizal arbuscular fungi G. mosseae and G. intraradices played an important role in increasing quantitative plant growth parameters and improving qualitative characteristics of medicinal plant licorice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research aimed to investigate the effect of stitching angle and stacking sequence of stitched layers on high velocity impact behavior of composites reinforced by glass woven fabrics. To study the effect of stitching angle on ballistic impact behavior, six different angles of (0°), (90°), (45°), (0°,90°), (±45°) and (0°,90°,±45°) were chosen as stitching angles. These stitching angles were applied on eight layers of glass woven fabric. To study the effect of stacking sequence of stitched layers, a different number of layers were stitched together with the angle of 0°. Unstitched and stitched composites were exposed to high velocity impact with 180 m/s using a spherical projectile. The residual velocity of projectile and dimensions of damage area on the composites' front and back sides were measured. It was found that the sample with the 45° stitching angle had the best behavior against ballistic impact and its energy absorption was significantly higher than the other samples. Stitching also reduces damage area in front and back sides of the composites and inhibits delamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]