Mutual funds have enabled many investors with a simple and efficient way of investing with the unique value chain, where investors may otherwise be deprived of the opportunity to invest in the capital markets. The under-penetrated capital market in India provides huge opportunities for market players to sell their products. Not only do Mutual funds have an significant role to play in catering to individual customers across sections of society, but the sector is also going a long way to support the India growth story overall. As of now big challenge for the mutual fund industry is to mount on investor awareness and to spread further to the semi urban and rural areas. Analysing the perception of the investors becomes all the more important for mutual fund product designers and fund managers to make the mutual fund the strongest and most preferred investment option in Indian capital market for the coming years.

Schizophrenia is a highly clinical and genetic heterogeneous disorder with complex background. Our previous study found chromodomain helicase DNA binding domain 5 (CHD5) rs1534997 contributes to paranoid schizophrenia risk. In this study, we examine whether this locus is also associated with schizophrenia with negative symptoms. To evaluate this correlation, we conducted a case-control study in 375 cases and 424 controls. Our study showed that rs1534997 does not play a crucial role in schizophrenia with negative symptoms. This study indicates that the rs1534997 polymorphism of the CHD5 gene is not involved in susceptibility to negative schizophrenia in Chinese.

In this paper, interval valued (or i-v) and bipolar fuzzy matrices are considered as matrices over a special type of semiring which is called path algebra. Some properties and characterizations for asymmetric and strongly complete(or s-complete) fuzzy matrices are established in a dual way. Also, we construct an idempotent i-v or bipolar fuzzy matrix from an s-complete fuzzy one through its adjoint matrix. Moreover, we show that this adjoint matrix is a generalized inverse of the originally i-v or bipolar fuzzy matrix.

This paper presents a structural analysis method for statically indeterminate beams under three different approaches: The first approach (Model 1) considers the bending deformations and shear in the methodology and in the fixed-end moments, this is the innovative part of this paper; The second approach (Model 2) takes into account the bending deformations and shear in the methodology, and considers the bending deformations in the fixed-end moments; The third approach (Model 3) is the slope-deflection classical method, which considers the bending deformations in the methodology and in the fixed-end moments. Also a comparison is made between the three approaches through three different problems for lengths of 5.00, 7.50, 10.00 m to observe differences. The results showed that differences between the three models, when members tend to be shorter, the differences are increased in proposed model (Model 1) with respect to the other two models. Therefore, the normal practice of using the Model 2 and Model 3, this is not a recommended solution, when lengths are short between supports. Then, the model 1 (proposed model) pass to be the more appropriate model for structural analysis of continuous beams and also is adjusted to the real conditions, since the shear forces and moments are present in any analysis of continuous beams and therefore the bending deformations and shear are produced.

This research studies the existence of the Fisher Effect in Europe with a very easy test, to verify if the most part of nominal interest rates changes are caused by inflation rate movements, remaining constant the real interest rate. Also, we split our sample into two subsamples. Thus, we distinguish two different periods: a first “expansion” period (1997-2007) and a second “crisis” period (2008-2012). Finally, we emphasize the main differences between two subsamples.

Considering the effects of transportation systems on citizens’ lives and the large amounts of funds required for their operation, it is essential to accuratly prioritize decisions for the development of urban transportation systems. Any misjudgement on this stage may cause a non-optimum decision and consequently impose considerable costs on the public. In this research, the Analytic Network Process (ANP) is selected for evaluation and prioritization of urban public transportation development scenarios. \nA new approach named “3-stages algorithm” is introduced in order to overcome some potential computational errors associated with network analysis process. \nA set of criteria were developed based on a brainstorming session and experts’ responses. The methodology is then applied to actual conditions of the public transportation in the city of Mashhad. Results show that 30% improvement is gained over conventional budget planning methoeds, which means increased benefit to cost ratios for the citizens. \nThe modified network analysis process is suggested for the assessment and prioritization of urban public transportation development scenarios as the result of this research.

In this paper, an energy efficient hybrid code combining technique is proposed for a cluster based cooperative wireless networks. Our scheme uses hybrid of selective repeat ARQ and low density parity check (LDPC) for code combining techniques. In the existing cluster based code combining techniques, energy consumption is more in the cluster heads and hence the energy level of the cluster head is drained before the data reaches the destination. In order to overcome this, a clustering technique is proposed in which the selection of cluster heads is based on the connectivity and the residual energy of each node. The clustering architecture consists of source cluster, destination cluster and relay clusters. Initially the ARQ technique is used as the code combining technique when the energy level of the nodes in cluster is more. The encoding and the decoding are done at each cluster using the LDPC codes until the data reaches the destination cluster. Using this technique, we can obtain immediate error recovery with less energy consumption and also better delivery ratio and minimum packet drop

An effective method to avoid the electric power system from instability, frequency collapse and blackout is an under-frequency load shedding scheme. It is applied in order to maintain stability of the system, when the power system generation fails to supply the increase of load. Under-frequency load shedding scheme is a common technique to maintain the power system stability by curtailment of partial loads in some part of the system. This paper presents an under-frequency load shedding scheme by capturing the system frequency and rate of change of frequency for an islanded distribution network. The scheme is based on an adaptive under-frequency load shedding scheme. The disturbance magnitude is estimated by utilization of the transient behaviour of the system frequency. Dynamic simulation on an intentional islanding operation is performed on an existing Malaysia network. From simulation results, it can be clearly observe that the scheme reduces the power deficiency in islanded system, successfully

The sucrose non-ferment 1 related protein kinase 2 (SnRK2) subfamily plays an important role in plant stress responses. In this study, the eight StSnRK2 genes (StSnRK2.1- 2.8) were identified in the genome of the potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivar ‘Longshu 3’. The StSnRK2s had similar characteristics as the SnRK2 in other plant species in gene structure, motif distribution and secondary structures. All StSnRK2s carries the Ser/Thr protein kinase domain, with the C-terminal regions highly divergent. The expression was determined at the transcript level by qRT-PCR. The expression of StSnRK2.1, 2.2, 2.5 and 2.6 were higher in the root than in the others. The expression of StSnRK2.3, 2.7 and 2.8 were higher in the leaf and stem than in the root, but lower in the tuber. The expression of StSnRK2.4 was also significantly higher in leaf, stem and tuber than in the root. The expression of StSnRK2.8 was sensitive to saline and drought stress, and the expression increased 10 folds with 200 mM NaCl treatment and 5 folds with 5% PEG-6000 treatment. A 50 µM of ABA treatment induced the expression of StSnRK2.2 and 2.4, and increased total soluble sugar and proline contents. Our results indicated that StSnRK2s would be involved in the stress responses of potato, and that the expression of StSnRK2 would be activated by a distinct signal in the different tissues with each StSnRK2 involved in a specific regulatory pathway in response to an abiotic stress.

The aim of the present study was to assess whether grafting could improve the salinity-induced inhibition on plant growth, photosynthetic performance and ion accumulation by grafting a relatively salt-sensitive Cucumis sativus L. cv. Shengmei-200 onto a salt-tolerant fig-leaf gourd during progressive saline stresses. A greenhouse experiment was performed to contrast differences in the dry shoot and root mass, gas exchange, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, Rubisco activity and ion (Na+, K+ and Cl-1) contents between self-root and rootstock grafted plants. Grafting significantly alleviated the saline stress on the growth of cucumber plants, due to much higher root and shoot dry mass and shoot/root ratios in rootstock grafted plants. The direct benefit of grafting could be more responsible for the improvement of the shoot growth. The A/Ci ratios, chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and Rubisco activities indicated severe impairments of photosynthetic performance in self-root grafted plants with progressive salinity and duration. But rootstock grafted plants were relatively less affected as smaller amplitude of variations in these traits compared to control plants, suggesting that rootstock grafted plants can delay photoinhibition. The Cl- and Na+ contents and Na+/K+ ratios in leaves and roots were induced a progressive rise by increasing salinity in all grafted plants, whereas K+ in both parts still decreased. Cl- contents in leaves and roots, but Na+ contents and Na+/K+ ratios just in leaves were lower in rootstock grafted plants than in self-root grafted ones, which were reversed to Na+ contents and Na+/K+ ratios in roots. These results indicate that the grafting may be more improvement of the shoot growth of cucumber plants, which is intrinsically attributed to enhancement of photosynthesis and restriction on transport of Cl-, Na+ but K+ to the leaves, where lower Na+/K+ ratio can be remained.

The aim of this paper, is to introduce the concept of fuzzy pairwise separation axioms FPTi; i = 0; 1; 2; 3; 4 in fuzzy bitopological spaces by using the notion of fuzzy neighborhood\nfilter of W. Gahler. These axioms are related only to usual points and ordinary subsets. In the classical case L = {0,1} these axioms are the usual ones. Finally, we show that our presented concepts are good extensions in the sense of R. Lowen.

Field experiments were conducted at the Teaching and Experimental Station in Swadzim near Poznań in the years 2009 - 2011. They were carried out in the split-split-plot design with three experimental factors in four field replications. Analyses were conducted to investigate six nitrogen fertilisation rates and two magnesium fertilisation rates on morphological traits of plants and ears in two types of maize cultivars differing in their genetic profiles. It was shown that the number of plants was inversely proportional to the applied nitrogen rate. The stay-green hybrid was characterised by a greater number of plants both after emergence and during harvest. Plant height of maize increased with an increase in nitrogen rates. The stay green hybrid ES Paroli had lower plants, a lower ear setting height, lesser ear length and diameter as well as ear volume in comparison to the hybrid ES Palazzo. Under conditions of this study it was ineffective to apply magnesium, as evidenced by the lack of effect of this macroelement on the analysed traits.

The paper presents results of multivariate analyses assessing variation in quantitative traits after the application of nitrogen and magnesium rates in cultivation of two types of maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars, i.e. ES Palazzo and the stay-green ES Paroli. Observations were conducted for eight traits: plant height, ear setting height, ear length, ear diameter, ear volume, the number of plants after emergence, the number of plants before harvest, plant loss rates in the vegetation period, observed in the course of three years (2009 - 2011). Statistical analysis of results was performed using the multivariate methods. Analysis of canonical variables proved to be a reliable tool providing a comprehensive assessment of variation in the effect of urea and magnesium fertilisation combinations on many traits simultaneously. The most variable treatments were A2B2C2 (50 kg N ha-1, 25 kg MgO ha-1 for ES Paroli SG) and A4B2C1 (150 kg N ha-1, 25 kg MgO ha-1 for ES Palazzo). The most similar treatments (in terms of eight traits treated jointly) included A2B2C2 (50 kg N ha-1, 25 kg MgO ha-1 for ES Paroli SG) and A3B2C2 (100 kg N ha-1, 25 kg MgO ha-1 for ES Paroli SG). Mahalanobis distances between individual treatments in individual years of observations were positive and correlated statistically significantly.

We measured the emergence rate, plant height, leaf number, above-ground biomass and tuber biomass of six lines of Jerusalem artichoke (DL-1, DL-2, DL-3, DL-4, DL-5 and DL-6) planted on the highway slopes of an alkaline region in the Songnen Plain, western Heilongjiang, China. The growth analysis showed that the emergence rates of DL-2 and DL-5 were close to 80% and as high as 90.2%, respectively, on the highway of the slightly alkaline region. The plant heights of both lines were 1.5 times higher than those of others, their above-ground biomasses were close to 1.5 times as those of other lines and their tuber biomasses were more than twice as large as those of the other lines. On the highway of highly alkaline region (total alkaline content > 1% or pH >8.5), the emergence rate of the line DL-5 was 87.9% and the plant height, above-ground biomass and tuber biomass of this line were more than twice as high as those of others. These results indicate that the lines DL-2 and DL-5 are suitable for the greening of the highway slopes in slightly alkaline regions and that DL-5 is more suitable for greening highly alkaline regions.

Events with mass casualty of burned can be produced in various circumstances that induce specific lesion association so that planning interventions for these situations is crucial to the success of the intervention. Given the need for maximum security, the stage and the equipment involving a very broad and multidisciplinary intervention, cooperation, command and control are crucial for the medical intervention structures. Assignment of tasks at the site, accident site organization, chain-hospital medical intervention, organization of hospitals in the region to receive a large number of victims, the issue of primary and secondary evacuation of victims are an integral part of the general procedure for intervention and proactive planning in order to prevent chaos, to shorten response times and to increase the efficiency of the intervention, the security of the team, victims and other involved persons. All these aspects must be specific educational objectives of training programs in crisis management, which all medical and technical services coordinators with responsibilities in resolving the emergency must undergo.

Abstract \nThe sustainable economic growth is one of the most important goals of economy policy makers in each country. Economic growth needs production increase and this growth is fulfilled in two ways. One is production increase through using more productive factors and the other is production increase through increasing productivity of production factors. Increase of productivity level in country is an important factor to reach economic growth. Nowadays wealthy countries are not the ones which possess numerous physical and natural sources but countries that use their resources effectively. Studies show that those countries that have relied more on increasing productivity than physical and natural resources to reach economic growth have experienced a quicker growth. To this end we used two methods including ARDL and VAR to investigate effective factors on productivity. The results of estimation of research model by ARDL method showed that financial development variable including LCR (logarithm of the domestic finance ratio to private sector to GDP), LBANK (logarithm of provided domestic finance ratio by bank sector to GDP) and LDEP (logarithm of deposit ratio to GDP) had a long-term positive meaningful effect on the total productivity and the importance and influence of LBANK was more than economic development indices. The results of estimation of the research model by VAR method based on immediate reaction functions and analysis of variance showed that financial development can have a positive effect on the total productivity in short term. The result of Granger-Sims causality test showed a one-sided long term causality relationship from financial development to total productivity.

This article reviews the application of nanotechnology in the conservation of archaeological wood based on their structure and deterioration. Nanotechnology can be applied in deacidification, cleaning, and consolidation of archaeological wood. Soft Nanoscience (microemulsions and micelles) can be used to remove contaminants and polymers, used in previous treatments, and to clean the wood surface. Hard Nanoscience (hydroxides nanoparticles in non-aqueous solvents) can be applied to deacidify wood of ancient shipwrecks, for example. The author highlight ways of treatments that were applied to other cultural heritage items and could be applied to archaeological wood but not examined yet, especially in the case of polychrome wood according to its structure.

Objective: To compare the changes of perioperative conditions of laparoscopic hepatectomy and open hepatectomy in the treatment of primary hepatic carcinoma. Methods: From Jan. 2010 to Aug. 2013,100 patients with primary hepatic carcinoma were divided into a LH group and an OH group, and clinical data of two groups were collected and analyzed to compare their preoperative general situation, intraoperative situation and postoperative recovery situation. Results: There were no significant differences in preoperative general situation(P>0.05).The LH group had the obvious advantages in shorter incision, less operational bleeding, more rapid recovery in liver function and gastrointestinal function and shorter postoperative hospital stay compared with the OH group(P<0.05). However, there were no significant differences in the operation time, postoperative complications and hospitalization expenses(P>0.05).Conclusion: Compared with open hepatectomy, laparoscopic hepatectomy can significantly improve perioperative conditions, therefore it is worth being applied and developed in the competent conditions.

A unified power quality controller (UPQC) using a fuzzy logic controller (FLC) has been proposed. The results obtained through the FLC are good in terms of dynamic response because of the fact that the FLC is based on linguistic variable set theory and does not require a mathematical model of the system. Moreover, the tedious method of tuning the PI controller is not required in case of FLC. Simulations are carried out using MATLAB/Simulink to validate the theoretical findings.

Increased environmental uncertainty requires that non-profit organizations, unlike prevaious to act strategicallyand plan.It must be understood that, the strategic planning itself is not the goal,it downright considered be as a set of concepts to help leaders adoption important decisions and affairs to act. This research is trying to use of techniques strategic planning , internal factors (strengths and weakness) and external (opportunities and threats), West Azarbaijan organization for engineering order of building long –term goals identified and to achieve development goals and suggest appropriate strategies too.In this way and in order to strategic programs for organization for engineering, based on questions raised andanalysis conducted, a model to answer questions developed with the aim of planning is presented.

In adult mammalian female, Ovarian surface epithelium (OSE) has recently been reported as a source of stem cells. Many researchers have demonstrated that primary follicles and follicular cells could be originated from OSE. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of estrogen and fulvestrant on induction of differentiation of OSE from older women to oocyte-like cells and primary follicles and expressions of GDF9 and BMP15 genes in the cells. For this purpose, the surface of ovaries was scrapped and the Cells cultured for 21 days, in the presence of estrogen, Fulvestrant (anti steroid stimuli) and both of them. The OSE cells that were cultured in the medium with estrogen differentiated into oocyte like cells and cells with phenotype of granulosa cells. But, most of the OSE cells cultured in the presence of Fulvestrant, differentiated directly into very small cells with pyknotic nucleus. RT-PCR analysis showed that cultured cells in the presence of estrogen expressed GDF9 and BMP15 genes but in anti steroid group, these genes were expressed in few samples. In the Groups with estrogen, the oocyte like cells assembled with granulosa cells to form primary follicles and the number and size of these structures were more than Fulvestrant treated groups. In conclusion, the results from this study confirm the bipotent potential of OSE cells to differentiate into oocytes and granulosa cells. In vitro production of oocytes from OSE stem cells offers a new therapeutic choice for patients with POFs, PCOs and treatment of female infertility. In addition, further clinical and basic stem cell research must be carried out to obtain reliable methods for its application in infertilities.

This paper presents the concept of a hand-held programmable inertia generator which consists of a base frame and internal moving masses. When the moving masses in the hand-held device have non-zero relative accelerations with respect to the base frame manipulated by the user, the holder experiences a kinaesthetic illusion characterized by the sensation of the inertia being different from the actual inertia of the device. The effective inertia of the haptic device can be programmed by actuating the internal masses in reaction to the acceleration induced by the holder, thus rendering a prescribed perceived inertia. In this paper, a two-degree-of-freedom haptic device with two internal translating masses in orthogonal directions is proposed as an example of the programmable inertia generator. The dynamic model of the 2-DOF system is firstly derived. Then the principle of the programmable inertia is explained. The motion of the internal masses in reaction to the accelerations imparted to the hand-held system by the user is analysed. Moreover, the displacement constraints induced by the mechanical design of the system are considered and corresponding solutions are subsequently provided. Numerical examples are presented in order to assess the performance of the inertia generator, as well as the feasibility of the motion trajectories used for addressing the displacement constraints.

According to the data interpreted with RS and GIS technology from remote sensing TM images in 1995 to 2009?the features of land cover and landscape pattern changes in Zhangjiajie city, a typical mountainous region in Hunan Province, were analyzed by using three–dimensional landscape pattern indices including area and density (class area and mean patch area), edge and shape (edge density?landscape shape index?and fractal dimension of mean patch)?diversity (Shannon’s diversity index and evenness index)?and gathering and spread (contagion index). The results indicate that main landscape types were forestland, cultivated land and grassland in the study area. And the area of forestland was largest, which accounted for more than 64% of the whole study area. In recent 14 years, the areas of cultivated land and grassland decreased sharply, water area, forestland and construction land increased obviously, which showed that landscape element types of land use had changed significantly in Zhangjiajie City. The major directions of land use change were the conversions of cultivated land into construction land, forestland and water, and grassland and arable land into forestland. At the same time, landscape pattern in the study area changed significantly during the research phase. The patch shape of arable land, forestland, grassland and construction land became more simple and regular and their connectedness increased while the patch shape of water body became more complex with increase fragmentation and reduced connectivity. Overall, the landscape fragmentation degree and landscape diversity index presented a decreasing trend, which indicated that landscape heterogeneity reduced in the study area. In addition, the study also showed that, the landscape pattern changes quantified by traditional two-dimensional landscape indices can be underestimated dramatically, especially for the change of class area?mean patch area. However, the description of landscape pattern and its dynamic change by three-dimensional landscape indices due to the introduction of the topographic features would be relatively accurate in the study.

Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) is proposed for handling large medical images to help medical and research sector. CBIR retrieves images based on the visual content on the query image. The effectiveness of the CBIR is evaluated through recall and precision measure. In this survey, various feature extraction and similarity measure techniques of CBIR with texture, color, shape features and combination of above said features for medical images are discussed and compared.

This study compared the effects of salt stress on the growth, photosynthesis, proline content and ion accumulation in seedlings of cultivated soybean ZH13 and wild soybean BB52. The results showed that salt stress markedly reduced the growth of two varieties, but BB52 grew better than ZH13 at the same salt stress. Then we speculated the reason was that it owned better abilities to maintain photosynthesis efficiency, osmotic adjustment and ion homeostasis. With increasing salinity, the higher Pn, CE and chlorophyll content in BB52 facilitated its better growth. Besides, the higher accumulation of proline under salt stress ensured its less decreases of ψw and RWC. And above all, BB52 not only absorbed much less Na+ and Cl- and accumulated them in roots to restrict their transportation to the above-ground parts, but also assimilated more K+. Therefore, BB52 was able to maintain a higher K+/Na+ ratio, especially in leaves that is very important for salt tolerance. In conclusion, ZH13 and BB52 exhibited a certain tolerance through many kinds of physiological regulations such as photosynthetic modulation, osmotic adjustment and ion homeostasis, but BB52 seemed to have a higher salt tolerance.

This paper discusses gate level Test Generation methods for crosstalk faults in VLSI circuits. As design trends move toward nanometer technology, new problems due to noise effects lead to a decrease in reliability and performance of VLSI Circuits. Crosstalk is one such noise effect which affects the timing behaviour of circuits. The crosstalk issues, types of crosstalk effects, crosstalk fault models and types of test generation for crosstalk faults are discussed. These include deterministic and simulation based test generation algorithms for crosstalk pulses, crosstalk delay faults and test generation for crosstalk delay faults in asynchronous circuits.

The production of bioethanol crops in saline and alkaline soil with saline water irrigation is a sustainable approach for providing new energy resources. This study investigated the salt accumulation and tolerance of H. tuberosus ecotypes from different locations in China,, i.e. Hohhot (HH, Neimeng Province), Yantai (YT, Shandong Province), Yancheng (YC) and Wuxi (WX) (Jiangsu Province), Xining (XN, Qinghai Province), Wuwei (WW, Gansu Province), Dalian (DL, Liaoning Province), and Shihezi (SHZ, Xinjiang Province). After 12 days of growth in substrate containing seawater at concentrations of 0, 10, 20, 30 or 40%, seedlings were evaluated for growth, chlorophyll content, photosynthetic activities, chlorophyll fluorescence and salt accumulation in tissues. The growth of the eight H. tuberosus ecotypes was affected by increased salinity, especially at the highest concentration (40%), but WX and YC were affected less compared to others. However, these two ecotypes from Jiangsu province (YC and WX) accumulated more Na and Cl than other ecotypes. The content of chlorophyll a in leaves was proportionally high in YC, WX, YT, and DL, suggesting that the photosynthetic organs in these plants were relatively tolerant to seawater salinity stress. Even though all eight H. tuberosus ecotypes showed some tolerance to seawater stress, the most tolerant ones were YC and WX. The results demonstrate importance of selecting tolerant ecotypes of H. tuberosus for bioethanol production in saline and alkaline soils.

A possibility of purifying aquaculture wastewater rich in nitrogen and phosphorus under conditions (high pH and salinity) existing in mudflats along the coast remains largely unexplored. This research used Eichhornia crassipes to study nutrient removal and kinetics of N and P uptake. After 25 days in simulated wastewater with pH 8.4 and salinity of 10.1 g NaCl/L, E. crassipes grew normally and had high absorption rate and use efficiency of N and P. Significant removal efficiency (more than 90%) was observed in the treatments with low-N and medium-N concentration. Uptake of NO3- and PO43- by E. crassipes was slightly higher in the saline/alkaline water than fresh water. The absorption kinetics followed a dual linear equation. The Km for N and P uptake was slightly but non-significantly influenced by the difference in the water salinity. The Imax for N uptake was not different between saline and fresh water. These results imply that E. crassipes has a high capacity to remove nutrients in wetland aquaculture under high salinity and alkalinity conditions existing in coastal mudflats.

A study was conducted to investigate the effects of pH stress on antioxidant and ion-transport enzyme activities of juvenile Epinephelus coioides under artificial seawater conditions. Epinephelus coioides (orange-spotted grouper, also known as estuary cod) was exposed to water of pH 6.9 or 9.0 for 72 h, with pH 8.1 as control. Antioxidant enzymes (catalase, glutathione peroxidase, total superoxide dismutase and total anti-oxidation capacity) were analyzed in liver, intestines and stomach. In addition, Na+/K+-ATPase activity was analyzed in gills after 0, 6, 12, 24, 48 and 72 h of exposure to pH treatments. In normal pH condition, the activity of antioxidant enzyme differed in various organs of Epinephelus coioides. With the increasing exposure to pH stresses, the antioxidant enzyme activities first increased and then decreased, reached the peak (P?0.05) within 24 h. Antioxidant enzyme activities in liver, intestines and stomach increased to the highest level almost more quickly and higher in the low-pH (6.9) than high-pH (9.0). The pH stress resulted in an increase and then a decrease in Na+/K+-ATPase activity in gills of Epinephelus coioides, with peaks reached (P?0.05) at 6 h in low-pH (6.9) and at 12 h in high-pH (9.0) conditions, suggesting higher sensitivity of Epinephelus coioides to low than high pH.

Abstract\nAim:The Y-chromosome azoospermic factor (AZF) regions include genes whose specific roles and functions in spermatogenesis have not been completely clarified. Hence, recognition of the association of AZF microdeletions with male infertility has suggestions for the diagnosis, treatment and genetic counseling among infertile patients. Material and Methods:On the basis of cytogenetic evaluation a total of 94 infertile males with non-obstructive azoospermic and aged 24 to 53 years were selected for this study. Molecular AZF screening technique was performed on the genomic DNA from peripheral blood samples. Weused MultiplexPCR and fourdifferentsetsof sequence-tagged sites (STS) fordetectingthemicrodeletionsinY-chromosomalAZFregionandtheY specific sequences. \nResults:Among the 94 infertile men, a total of 48 cases (48/94, 51.06%, P< 0.01) were found to have deletions in the regions of AZFb, AZFc and AZFd. Of the48azoospermicsubjectsharbouringYchromosome microdeletions,twelvehaddeletionsinAZFb,twentyinAZFc,six in AZFb+c, two in AZFb+c+SRY, two in AZFc+d, two in AZFb+d, two in AZFb+SRY and twoinAZFb+c+dregions. From the Conclusion:results, Y chromosome microdeletions analysis recommend as an important molecular test among infertile males to obtain reliable genetic information before the administration of assisted reproductive techniques and will help decrease the cost and technical difficulty of the procedure.

Iranian traditional houses have a kind of internal spaces structure on the basis of religious and traditional ideas of the Iranian families. Spatial flexibility, legibility, introversion, spatial hierarchy and respecting family privacy have special position in architecture of Iranian houses which has been replaced by extravert architecture. Traditional architecture which has all necessary spaces for any kind of communication inside the house has been replaced by the\ninn architecture of which residents don’t expect stability and tranquility. For these residents, only equipments and services of the inn are important and they are not attached to its entirety. Living in contemporary houses has caused problems such as decrease of attachment feeling, tranquility and emergence of emotional and family problems. This article tries to compare architectural plans of Iranian traditional houses with the contemporary houses by studying\nthem and emphasizing on their space quality and richness to take effective step for inclusion of these forgotten concepts in the single- dimension spaces of the contemporary houses while introducing spatial concepts of these houses.

Purpose:\n Poor quality sleep is one of the most common problems faced by the elderly. A non-pharmacologic intervention as first line treatment for sleep disorders in a better choice and is considered among the elderly. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of aromatherapy with lavender oil on sleep quality in the elderly.\nMaterials and Methods:\nIn this clinical trial, 100 elderly retired of Kashan as selected by convenience sampling and randomly divided into two groups. The intervention consisted of seven nights with lavender essential oil aromatherapy at home to care for the intervention group, while the control group used distilled water as placebo. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality questionnaire both before and after the test was used. To compare changes in sleep quality scores in each group, paired t-test was used. Independent t-tests were used to compare the increase in sleep quality scores in the two groups.\nResults: \nThe results showed that the average sleep quality aromatherapy with lavender oil in the intervention group showed statistically significant differences between the pre-test score of sleep quality (p <0/001).\n In the control group, the difference was not significant. Also, the mean score of sleep quality differences between the two groups was significant (p <0/001).\nDiscussion: \nThe results of this study suggest that aromatherapy with lavender oil, the quality of sleep of elderly people increases as a safe way to save and improve sleep for people with limited side effects is recommended.

Background: Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most common malignancy worldwide. The incidence of BCC has increased in the last few decades. Conventional surgery is the most frequent treatment modality for this cancer, but it also has the risk of local recurrence. The complete surgical excision may be considered the gold standard for treatment. Objectives: This study was designed to identify prospectively the incidence of incomplete excision associated with 5mm margin excision of BCCs among patients diagnosed at Farshchian hospital, Hamadan. The main aim of this study was to evaluate patients and tumors characteristics as the related risk factors. To the best of our knowledge, this clinical trial for the first time in Iran performed with predetermined surgical excision margin. Materials and methods: From April 2011 to April 2012, a total of 125 Basal cell carcinoma lesions (115 patients) were excised in Farshchian hospital. The elliptical excisions were performed with 5mm clinically margin around the lesions suspicious for BCC. Routine histopathologic examination assessed the specimens. The following variables were recorded for each patient: age, gender, anatomic location and duration of lesion, first clinical diagnosis, histological subtype and details of the completeness of excision. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Results: Among the total of 125 cases, 75(60%) were male and 50 (40%) were female (1.5:1). The age ranged from 32 to 93 years with mean age of 64.5. More than 96% of lesions located on head and neck. The scalp was the most frequent site (33.6%), followed by nose (29.6%). The lesions persistent duration on the skin ranged from one month to 15 years with mean duration of 2 year. Solid subtype was seen in 61% of lesions. In general incidence of incomplete excision was 20%. Factors related to incomplete excision were age (P-Value: 0.003) and anatomic location of lesion (P-Value: 0.032). It was more frequent in older patients. So there was no incomplete margin in patients younger than 50 years old. Incomplete excision is more common on the ears (66.6%) and periorbital region (50%).There was no statistically significant difference in completeness of excision according to duration of lesions (P-Value: 0.36), histopathologic subtype (P-Value: 0.12), gender (P-Value: 0.12) and first clinical diagnosis (P-Value: 0.069). Clinical diagnoses were significantly consistent with histopathological findings. Conclusion: Appropriate clinical assessment and surgical margin determination are important in complete resection of BCCs. To avoid incomplete excision of high risk histopathologic type of BCCs on sensitive anatomic locations, these tumors should be excised with wide margins. A 5mm margin was acceptable for this purpose.