Diabetes mellitus is an incurable lifelong disease that is treated with insulin injections, diet, exercise and monitoring of capillary blood glucose three to four times a day which can greatly affect the lives of the adolescent patient and his family. Studies postulated that there is a correlation between psycho-social factors (self-esteem, and locus of control) and diabetic control of patients with type 1 DM at time of diagnosis and at least one year after. Our study was conducted on two groups (Group A) newly diagnosed T1DM patients were selected randomly from diabetic clinic between the ages of 10-12 years old, and (Group B) diagnosed with T1DM for at least one year or more, after matching with group A for sex and age. Comparison between group A and group B showed a statistical significant difference between both groups regarding self –esteem (p= 0.017*). Moreover, regarding group (A) although there was no significant difference between controlled and non -controlled group regarding self-esteem, the locus of control (powerful others) domain the mean of controlled group was (8.14 ± 2.41) versus (6.81 ± 1.08) among non- controlled group, this difference was statistically significant (p=0.035). In group B, there was significant difference between mean of self-esteem and internal locus of control domain among the controlled group versus non -controlled group (p=0.014, 0.02) respectively .\nWe can conclude that evaluating locus of control and self-esteem may become essential tools to guide health actions directed to DM patients. And that interventions aimed at improving self-esteem and internal locus of control may improve adherence to diabetes regimen. So we recommend that Counselors and educators should attend to self-esteem and locus of control in their interventional courses and programs.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the motivation resources of academicians in learning a foreign language in terms of various variables. Research population is Turkey and a total of 26 academic staff in public and private universities of Turkey constitute the sample of study. A total of 2364 lecturers and academic staff selected with simple random sampling method are the research dimension of the study. In order to measure the foreign language anxiety of the participants, 31-item 5-point likert scale was used. Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of the scale was found to be 0,912. SPSS package program was used in the data analysis and factor analysis, t-test, variance analysis and regression analysis were used. It has been concluded following the study that the opinions of Turkish academicians regarding the motivation resources in foreign language learning differ significantly in all scale dimensions by age, sex, academic title, income and type of school and differ in one dimension by marital status. It has also been determined that the academic title has a positive effect and the type of school has a negative effect on motivation resources in foreign language learning. In the study, the factors with maximum and minimum effect on motivation resources in foreign language learning will be specified and solution offers will be presented.

The risk of mobile communications has become a critical issue and creates an importance for studying negative health effect of exposure for mobile phones. Objectives: Describe physical complains associated with using mobile phones, determine the potential of mobile phones to harbor microorganisms in the environments and evaluate its role in their transmission from the mobile phone to personals? hands. Methods: Crosses sectional quantitative survey study was conducted 442 participants were included,54.5% were students while 45.5% were employees in Taif University from September to December 2015,.Two instruments were used, for the demographic characteristics, information about health hazards with mobile device use and culture swab from participant\

The present study was undertaken to investigate the anti-inflammatory potential and mechanism of action of the rape flower extract (RFE) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. RFE inhibited nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and IL-6 production in a concentration-dependent manner. RFE effectively attenuated the expression of inflammation-mediating enzymes, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), at the protein level in a concentration-dependent manner. Additionally, the attenuation of inflammatory responses in RAW 264.7 cells by RFE was closely associated with the suppression of the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), eventually blocking the activation of downstream elements contributing to inflammation. RFE HPLC fingerprint indicated the presence of coumestrol. The coumestrol content in RFE was 2.614 μM. To evaluate the safety of RFE and its effects on the human skin, human skin primary irritation tests were performed on the normal skin (upper back) of 32 volunteers to determine if any constituent of RFE presented an irritation or sensitization potential. RFE did not induce any adverse reactions. Taken together, our results suggest that RFE may be considered as an anti-inflammatory candidate for topical application.

Anemia is one of the most common problems in many parts of the world, especially in developing countries. The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of anemia, to estimate different types of anemia, and to know different risk factors of anemia among Taif University students. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 500 volunteers of male students from different colleges. The data collected consisted of a self-administered questionnaire that included socio-demographic data, exercise, smoking, dietary habits, past, and family histories of anemia and chronic diseases, and weight and height. Laboratory tests for diagnosis and identification of anemia were also done (hemoglobin and hematocrit to all students, in addition to iron, ferritin, and hemoglobin electrophoresis to anemic students only). Prevalence of anemia was 3.2% of all studied students; all of them were diagnosed with iron deficiency anemia. Higher prevalence was observed in younger students (p=0.03), among students with large family size (p=0.03), among those with low family income/month (p=0.001), in physically inactive students (p=0.04), and in non-smokers (0.03). Moreover, prevalence was more among students who don\'t consume fresh fruits (p=0.01), with frequent consumption of red tea, coffee (p=0.01), or soft drinks (p=0.04) immediately after meals, and also with past history of anemia (p=0.001) or anemia symptoms (0.03). Additionally, prevalence was significant among underweight and obese students (p=0.02). So, health education intervention program on anemia is recommended for students and their families.

Introduction: The study addressed the measurement of radiation doses indicators during abdominal CT investigation by computed tomography, as the results of a relatively high doses for patients during this type of examinations, so study aimed to measure these indicators and then compared the results with different literature. Materials and methods: The radiation doses indicators were measured for number of 29 patients at King Abdul Aziz Specialist Hospital in Taif after bio-data (height, weight and body mass index) was recorded , computed tomography dose index (CTDI) and dose length product (DLP) have been used to indicate the radiation dose ,which were pre-existing on computed tomography devices made by Siemens. And then a Microsoft Excel program used to analyze the data, in turn interpreted in the form of graphs and curves. Main results: The average CTDI and DLP for CT abdomen was 13.56 ± 3,98, 538,3 mGy per centimeter ± 193,4 respectively. Also study revealed that there was correlation between CTDI and DLP, also correlation between patient body mass Index and DLP was found, No a correlation between the time and DLP or even between ages and CTDI were gathered. Recommendations: The study recommended the establishment of local diagnostic references level corresponded to international diagnostic references level if available.

Background: Topical agents used in combination with phototherapy or photochemotherapy may have both blocking or enhancing effects on ultraviolet. In this in vivo study, the effects of topical petrolatum, basis cream, glycerine and olive oil on the transmission of ultraviolet A (UVA) radiation were investigated. \nMaterials and methods: A test was performed to determine the minimal phototoxic dose (MPD) on 29 volunteers with only psoralen plus UVA (PUVA) and then the same test was repeated with white petrolatum, basis cream, glycerine, olive oil and sunscreen (0.3cc/25cm2). The effects of each agent on MPD were determined after 72 h. \nResults: At the end of the study, an increase and a slight increase were observed in mean MPD values with the application of white petrolatum and basis cream respectively. There was only a very slight increase in mean MPD value with olive oil, while a slight decrease was observed with the application of glycerine. When compared to pure PUVA, there was a statistically significant increase in mean MPD values by the application of white petrolatum, but there was no significant increase or decrease in mean MPD values after the application of basis cream, glycerine or olive oil. \nConclusion: The application of white petrolatum, which has blocking effect, and also basis cream immediately before PUVA therapy should not be not recommended. Although we specify that glycerine and maybe olive oil can be used before photochemotherapy, there is a need for further research in larger series.

Abstract\nThis study sought to investigate the effect of cooperative learning instructional strategy on students’ achievement in senior secondary school government curriculum in Onitsha Education zone, Anambra State. It is a quasi-experimental study of non- equivalent group design. Two research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. A sample of 160 SS2 students from four purposively selected secondary schools in Onitsha Education zone, Anambra State, Nigeria were used for the study. Government Achievement Test (GAT) was developed, validated and used for data collection. The instrument (GAT) was trial-tested using Kuder-Richardson 20 formula (K-R 20) which established a reliability index of 0.89. Mean, Standard Deviation were used to answer the research questions while Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used fortesting the nullhypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The results revealed among others that students performed significantly better in Government curriculum when taught with cooperative learning instructional strategy than lecture method; and that school location does not affect students’ achievement when cooperative instructional strategy is used in teaching Government curriculum. It concluded among others that if cooperative learning instructional strategy is adopted in teaching and learning of Government curriculum in senior secondary schools, students’ achievement would improve. The study recommended among others that curriculum designers should recommend cooperative learning instructional strategy as one of the participatory instructional strategies to the teaching and learning of Government curriculum and that government teachers should use it in the teaching and learning of the government curriculum for effective learning outcome.

Background: Mitral valve regurgitation (MR), is frequently seen in varying degrees in patients that aortic valve replacement (AVR) was planned, especially due to aortic stenosis (AS). It is controversial whether or not to operate the minor or moderate MR, with AVR. Our purpose in this study is to evaluate whether surgical intervention to mitral valve is necessary in patients undergoing AVR with MR, by analysing the mitral valve pathology again after the operation and comparing this with the preoperative data.\nMaterials and Methods: 59 patients who were performed AVR with preoperative MR in our hospital in the last 5 years. Patients with other pathologies except the aortic and functional mitral valve pathologies were not included in the study. Patients who have MR before AVR were detected retrospectively. Their demographic data, peak aortic valve gradient, mean aortic valve gradient, mitral valve structure, the degree of MR, left ventricular end-diastolic and end-systolic diameters, right and left atrial dimensions, pulmonary artery pressures, vena contracta and aortic valve velocities were analysed benefiting from their preoperative transthoracic echocardiography. These patients were invited back to hospital for performing postoperative transthoracic echocardiography examinations and comparing the changes in the parameters that are mentioned above. Statistical analysis of the data were made and the results were evaluated at confidence interval of 95% and the p<0.05 levels were considered statistically significant.\nResults: The mean age of the patients was 61. In #.72 (n=14) of the patients, aortic regurgitation (AR), in %6,77 (n=4) of the patients, AS with AR, in i,49 (n=41) of the patients AS were the primary pathologies. Before AVR was performed, in f,10 (n=39) of the patients mild, in ,86 (n=7) of the patients mild-moderate, in ,90 (n=10) of the patient moderate and in %5,08 (n=3) of the patients moderate-severe degree of MR were determined. After AVR the degrees of the MR were t,57 (n=44) mild, %6,77 (n=4) mild-moderate, ,64 (n=11) moderate, %0,0 (n=0) moderate-severe. There were no significant changes in ejection fraction(EF)(Z=-0,040;p=0,968>0,05), left atrial (Z=-0,056; p=0,955 >0,05) and right atrial (Z=-1,117; p=0,264>0,05) dimensions between the preoperative and postoperative periods. In peak aortic valve gradient (Z=-5,884;p=0,000<0,05), mean aortic valve gradient (Z=-5,808;p=0,000<0,05), left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD)(Z= -4,775;p=0,000<0,05), left ventricular end-systolic diameter (LVESD)(Z=-3,730; p=0,000<0,05) , pulmonary artery pressure (tPAP)(Z=-2,304;p=0,021<0,05), aortic valve velocity (Z=-4,774;p=0,000<0,05) parameters significant decreases were determined between the preoperative and postoperative periods.\nConclusion: In our study, it was determined that in patients undergoing AVR with accompanied MR, surgical intervention was not necessary to the mitral valve in the ones who have mild and mild-moderate degrees of MR. It was also determined that performing AVR without mitral valve surgery, might be able to reduce or eliminate the MR.

Thyme and ginger are herbs which have anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties. The present study carried out to estimate the effect of thyme and ginger on some biochemical and immunological parameters in addition to their effect on the growth performance. Fifteen male rats were divided into three groups, first one was fed on basal diet (the control), second group was fed on basal diet contained thyme (5%) and the third was fed on basal diet contained ginger (5%). The experiment lasts for 4 weeks and then serum sample was collected. Our results revealed the presence of significantly increase in body weight; body gain and feed efficiency values in treated groups in comparison with the control group. Total globulins and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were significantly increased for ginger and thyme groups in comparing with control group meanwhile total proteins and albumin recorded non significant change, GOT increased in ginger group but not in thyme one. Thyme and ginger decreased triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoproteins (LDL) even though high density lipoproteins (HDL) showed no significant change in either group. Thyme decreased serum urea and Creatinine meanwhile ginger increased serum Creatinine with no significant change of urea. On the other hand Thyme significantly decreases production of serum IL-6 in mice while ginger increased its level in serum. The present study concluded that either thyme or ginger have positive effect on some biochemical and immunological parameters in addition to their effect on growth performance however they have negative effect on others, as this is the first recorded increase of ALP with the two herbs so the using of the herbs must under restriction.

In this review, it was aimed to define the prevalence of herbal therapy in cancer patients, the plant species used, the type of cancer and the features of the group using this treatment. The selection criteria were the following: key words (cancer patient, complementary and alternative therapies, herbal therapy, prevalence) were present in the article title and study was performed with an adult and child population. 40 research papers concerning the usage of herbal therapy which were published between 1990 and 2006, were obtained from 23 countries. The total of all the samples consisted of 13.631 cancer patients. In these studies, the average frequency of herbal therapy is 43.4 percent, and it varies between 1.3 percent and 95.2 percent . In the researches conducted in Turkey, the average use of herbal therapy was 63.8 percent. It was stated that stinging nettle and other plants (garden thyme, chamomile, garlic, nigella seed) are the most widely used herbal remedies in Turkey, whereas the most widely used plants in the world are iscador (mistletoe), essiac tea, echinacea, green tea, garlic, mushroom, olive leaf paste and nettle leaves/tea.

Purpose: We aimed at researching efficiency and reliability of percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) that we performed under spinal anesthesia retrospectively in this study. \nMaterials and Methods: Data of 538 patients (263 men and 275 women), on whom PCNL was applied under spinal anesthesia with renal stone diagnosis between June 2007 and June 2013, were assessed retrospectively.\nResults: Average age of 263 men and 275 women on whom PCNL were performed with spinal anesthesia was found to be 44,33±14,09. Average operation time (period after lithotomy position was given to the patient) was 53,64±18,37. Average stone size was calculated as 26,19±8,95. While no complication was seen on 83.3 % of the patients, the complication which was met most often was that there occurred prolonging wetting from the area of the operation (8,7 %). Complete stone-free was enabled on 430 (79,9 %) patients, milimetric clinically insignificant stone remained in 64(11,9%) patients and stone which would necessitate extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) remained in 44 (8,2%) patients as residue. \nConclusion: Although the experience of the anesthetist is important in the anesthesia method to be preferred for the patients to whom PCNL is applied, it is a method which is to be preferred reliably because spinal anesthesia provides patient compatibility, better postoperative analgesia, operative time, provides early discharge opportunity from the hospital postoperatively, and reduces the amount of bleeding during operation.

On one side flexible and cost effective nature of cloud based technology is driving Small and Medium Scale companies (SMEs) towards it and at the same time risk of loss exposures due to a number of issues like performance, security, privacy, vulnerabilities, data portability etc. hinders the cloud adoption. The study attempts to identify and analyze the loss exposures in cloud adoption by analyzing the impact and frequency of various risks associated with cloud computing. The approach used in the paper is Analytical Network Process as it is well suited for multi criteria decision making(MCDM)

The study aimed to identify the quality of diagnosis for people with learning disabilities in the light of standards of (CEC) Council of Exceptional Children according to some variables represented in gender, years of experience, and educational level for teachers, and the type of institution government/ private. The study sample consisted of (83) male and female teachers in government and private centers that were randomly selected. A tool has been built based on the standards of Council of Exceptional Children (CEC) for diagnosis process to assess the quality of existing diagnostic process in schools and government and private centers in the city of Irbid, the tool consisted of (55) items distributed on six dimensions and represented in the dimensions of leadership, policies, development and organization of the program, research, investigation, evaluation of the individual and the program, and professional development, ethical practices, and finally cooperation.\n The researchers examined the validity and credibility of the tool. The results of the study showed there are no statistically significant differences due to the variable of gender for all standards and total score. On the other hand, the results showed that there are statistically significant differences for the variable of educational level, and these differences went in favor of the Master degree and above in the total score. As for the variable of experience, the results showed there are statistically significant differences in favor of the experience of less than five years. As for the type of institution, the results showed there are statistically significant differences for all standards and total score except two dimensions which are, developing and organizing the program and research and investigation that went in favor of the government.\nIn light of the results, the researchers recommended to conduct other studies on other samples and variables, and the need to adhere to the international standards for the council of exceptional children (CEC), in addition to activate the rules of the mechanism for the work of government and private schools and centers regarding the process of diagnosing disabilities of learning.

Background and Goal of Study\nPreoperative anxiety and stress are undoubtedly the most difficult experiences in the group of patients undergoing elective surgery. These unpleasant sensations depend on several factors. The objective of this study was to evaluate the preoperative anxiety levels in a sample of Turkish population as well as the underlying causes; using Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI anxiety) scale.\nMaterials and Methods\nThe study was conducted according to the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the local ethical committee. All participants gave written informed consent upon having received detailed information on the study. Upon entry in the study, state and trait anxiety questionnaires were completed by 186 patients scheduled for elective surgery. The influencing factors in regard to age, gender, educational status and others were also reported.\nResults\nThere was a statistically significant positive correlation between state and trait anxiety scores of this Turkish population. While, the most important predictive factors which affected state-STAI scores were age, gender and duration of sleep at the night before surgery; educational status and age were the best predictors for determining the variation in trait-STAI scores. Conclusion\nThe factors affecting anxiety levels in different populations might vary among different countries. Interestingly, in this sample of Turkish population, the trait-anxiety levels were found to be higher from state-anxiety levels, especially in women, and less educated people. Thus, doubts about operation and anesthesia are a little bit disregarded. This could be attributed to the low to intermediate life standards of people admitting to our hospital.

Cloud computing is rapidly changing the internet services physiognomy. However, the high concentration of data and services on the clouds make them attractive targets for various security attacks, including DoS, data theft, and privacy attacks. Additionally, cloud providers may fail to comply with service level agreement in terms of performance, availability, and security guarantees. Moreover, users may choose to utilize public cloud services from multiple vendors for various reasons including fault tolerance and availability. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to have secure and efficient mechanisms that enable users to transparently copy and move their data from one provider to another. In this paper, we explore the state-of-the-art inter-cloud migration techniques and identify the potential security threats in the scope of Hadoop Distributed File System HDFS. We propose an inter-cloud data migration mechanism that offers better security guarantees and faster response time for migrating big data files in cloud database management systems. The proposed method enhances the data security processes used to achieve secure data migration between cloud nodes thus improves applications’ response time and throughput. The performance of the proposed method is validated by measuring its impact on response time and throughput, and comparing the performance to that of other techniques in the literature. The results show that our method significantly improves the performance of HDFS and outperforms its counterparts.

The development of specific molecular targets for the diagnosis and therapy of HCC are urgently required. In this study 60 Saudi patients with chronic HCV and 15 healthy Saudi volunteers were included. Expression levels of MAGE-1 and MAGE-3 genes in peripheral blood were evaluated using RT-PCR. TGF-β1 and VEGF were determined in serum using ELISA technique. MAGE-1 mRNA was expressed in peripheral blood of 40% (6 of 15 patients) with metastatic hepatoma and in 13.3% (4 of 15 patients) with localized hepatoma. Mean while MAGE-3 mRNA was expressed in peripheral blood of 53.3% (8 of 15 patients) with metastatic hepatoma and in 26.7% (2 of 15 patients) with localized hepatoma. Also, TGF-β1, and VEGF showed a significant positive increase in localized and metastatic hepatoma patients. All control subjects have no expression of MAGE-1 and MAGE-3 genes in their blood, also they have low serum levels of TGF-β1 and VEGF compared to localized and metastatic hepatoma. Conclusion: Cancer-specific markers such as MAGE-1 and MAGE-3 genes in combination with angiogenic factors TGF-β1 and VEGF may be used as diagnostic tools for monitoring HCC. Keywords: MAGE-1, MAGE-3, TGF-β1, VEGF, HCC

The area where the high potency as both quality and variety of agates of igneous origin are largely obtained in Turkey is placed in between the northern part of the district Çubuk of Ankara and the southern part of the District ?abanözü of Çank?r?. Ankara agates have been found in the “volcanic sequence” of Miocene aged. The agates found in this area mainly appear in two types of surrounding rocks: Andesite (partly basalt) and rhyolite. The agates in the andesites were deposited as open-space fillings in crevice-and fissure-vein cavities. Their settling positions are stratiform, but not nodular. They have the barred inclusions as solid chalcedony and quartz pseudo morphs, and concentric bands, but not Uruguay-bands. These agates are individual and first called “barred agates”. In some agate specimens in the andesites, vein-spaces where the bar inclusions were not formed in appreciable amounts were completely filled with chalcedonic material bearing the concentric banding. The individual bands are multi-colored. The agates in the rhyolites were deposited as cavity fillings in regular or irregular vesicles. Their settling positions are nodular. Most of them have sagenitic or moss-like inclusions with tubiform structures, and both concentric and Uruguay-bands. These agates are called “moss-agates”. The macroscopic, petrographic, and electron optical morphologies of the bands in the Ankara agates are dissimilar. The main process that reveals the formation of the concentric banding is the development of radial fibrous texture. The fibrous texture is often represented by the spherulites under the polarizing microscope, but electron optical examination shows that the fibres are not real quartz crystals because they were formed from the infinitesimal silica particles and were consummately contorted. The Uruguay-banding in the Ankara agates is a result of the precipitation of relatively coarse silica grains as horizontal layers by gravitation. The most plausible assumption as the medium in agate formation is the colloidal silica system in the presence of hydrothermal circulation under lower P-T conditions. The individual inclusions in the barred agates found in the cracked zone of andesites are of replacement origin, and these crystalline inclusions were originally of the mineral zeolite (scolecite). The tubiform inclusions in the agates found in the cavities of rhyolites are particular growth origin. Moss-like or sagenitic growths were formed from silica gel including alkali-silicate. In the Ankara agates, whereas these silicate growths could be formed alone, they could also be developed around the replaced zeolite bars.

In this paper, we introduce a new class of sets called ωβ-open sets which contains both 𝜔𝑏-open sets and 𝛽-open sets and investigate some its properties. Finally, we investigate some characterization of β-Lindelöf spaces

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the presence of coronary artery disease (CAD) using multislice coronary computed tomography (MSCT) in young adult patients at moderate risk for developing CAD and with negative or non-diagnostic ETT.\nMaterial and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 38 male patients (aged 45 years and below) and 12 female patients (aged 55 years and below) admitted to the cardiology outpatient clinics or emergency room with complaint of acutely started chest pain or dyspnea who were indicated for ETT and MSCT to rule out presence of CAD. Subjects with positive family history for CAD, with moderate risk for developing CAD according to the Framingham risk scale and with negative or non-diagnostic ETT results were included in the study. Low density lipoprotein level of ?160 mg/dl was defined as presence of hyperlipidemia. MSCT and ETT results were compared.\nResults: Age, gender and body mass index of the subjects with or without hyperlipidemia were similar. Nine patients with hyperlipidemia (40.9%) and six patients without hyperlipidemia (27.2%) had CAD (p>0.05). Nine patients with non-diagnostic ETT (60.0%) and six patients with negative ETT (20.6%) had CAD (p<0.01). \nConclusion: In this study, it was found that presence of hyperlipidemia did not predict extent and severity of CAD detected by MSCT, additionally MSCT coronary angiography may be better tool to rule out presence of CAD compared to ETT among subjects with moderate risk for 10-year cardiovascular events at outpatient or emergency room settings.

This study was carried out to find out the problems on used materials for English Language teaching activities to Turks and Turkish speaking societies. Materials are some important instruments to make all lifelong works easier and effective. Some of them are materials related to education and science and some of them may be newly produced original and special materials. Material using to support learning is also necessary to make the students active and encourage them to participate in all classroom activities. On the other hand it is also necessary and important to have enough information about the characteristics and levels of the materials for the students. This study is a descriptive study and used content analysing method. All the given answers were evaluated with the help of computer programme of SPSS. Prepared questionnaire applied to 80 students of English Language and Literature Department at Kafkas University in Turkey. According to the data handed there are also very important problems about the materials and their features. In addition, the participant teachers define from producing to consuming, from physical content to cognitive and emotional problems.

This paper investigates exponential second kind Chebyshev (ESC) collocation method to solve ordinary differential equations with variable coefficients in unbounded domain. All properties of the ESC functions are derived and introduced by us as a new basis defined in the whole range. This technique transforms the given differential equation and mixed conditions to matrix equation with unknown ESC coefficients. These matrices together with the collocation method are utilized to reduce the solution of higher-order ordinary differential equations to the solution of a system of algebraic equations. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the applicability and the accuracy of the method.

The tremendous increase in web traffic and the transmission of low resolute images over limited bandwidth channels leads to the necessity of image enhancement in the receiving end. This paper attempts to introduce a modified image denoising concept based on the integration of linear and non linear filtering concepts along with a switching concept and evaluating the performance characteristics of the hybrid switching filter in resolution enhancement application. To counter spatial and frequency domain degradations of images, the denoised image is then subjected to a resolution enhancement method. The performance of the Hybrid Switching Filter is evaluated using PSNR metrics and proved its superiority by comparing it with some of the existing methods. The resultant denoised images are applied to a resolution enhancement method thereby validating the role of hybrid switching filter in image enhancement.

Khorasan is a vast land in the East and North East of Iran, most parts of which are located outside the political borders of Iran. Little have archaeological studies been done in the field of historical Khorasan. Meanwhile, Dasht-e T?s with high potential for environmental conditions and proximity to important areas such as Central Asia, Afghanistan and North Khorasan is a pristine region in the study of this period that a comprehensive study to better understand Sassanid era and its transfer to Islamic era has not yet been done. Using library research, field studies, and with an emphasis on previously conducted studies, this paper aims to reaching at more complete understanding of the most important cities and settlements of Sassanid and early Islamic cities of Dasht-e-T?s more specifically the two areas of Shahr-e kharab and ?eyd?b?d. Therefore, according to the theoretical approach of cultural history, these two areas were archaeologically studied; thus, on account of the study conducted, several architectural and historical evidences, ceramic works as well as environmental and communicative research in Dasht-e T?s, the areas of Shahr-e kharab and ?eyd?b?d were regarded as the main options belonging to T?s in the Sassanid and early Islamic period.

As the human population grows and industry pressure in most developing countries continues to increase, effective water quality assessment becomes critical for river waters. A major challenge faced with water quality, is the process of water data capturing and chemical laboratory approaches, which can be expensive and time consuming. In this paper, we develop a connective Dual-Particle Swarm Optimization (DPSO) model to alleviate the uncertainty of assessing a distributed Southern Africa river quality status minimizing the laboratory costs of water assessment. This work develops ubiquitous dual particle swarm optimization (DPSO) framework for river networks. A first stage of parallel assessment on a targeted distributed river network generates intermediate knowledge, which subsequently combines two sets of DPSO particles to form consensus analysis of river health status using fuzzy logic. The experimental consensus satisfactory results show that the proposed model is more economical than traditional methods. Validating it with consumer comments together with that currently used in the some department of waters affairs shows the superiority of connective DPSO on ubiquitous networks.

Background/Aims: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between BNP level and RAS in patients with resistant hypertension according to the results of renal arteriography. \nMethods: Forty patients were included to the study. In order to compare to each other regarding the BNP levels, the patients were evaluated by dividing them into groups as RAS [group1; non-critical (1a) and critical (1b)], non-RAS (group 2), unilateral RAS [non-critical (A) and critical (B)] and bilateral RAS [non-critical (C) and critical (D)] according to the results of renal arteriography.\n Results: The serum BNP (p=0.003) and serum creatinine (p=0.015) levels of group 1b were also significantly higher than group 1a. The patients in group B had higher serum BNP levels (p=0.025) and lower creatinine clearance levels (p=0.041) compared to group A. Higher serum creatinine (p=0.006), serum BNP levels (p=0.017) and lower creatinine clearance levels (p=0.049) have been observed in group D compared to group C. \nConclusions: Findings of this study revealed that increased serum BNP levels were significantly associated with the severity of RAS determined by the results of renal arteriography. Thus BNP may be used as a predictive marker to detect the presence of RAS in patients with resistant hypertension.

Paratesticular fibrous pseudotumor was first defined in 1904 by Balloch. Tunica vaginalis is the origin of the mass in most reported cases, however the masses can also be located in tunica albuginea, epididymis and spermatic cord. Etiology of these masses are unclear due to their rareness. Trauma, infection and inflamed hydrocele are suggested reasons of paratesticular fibrous pseudotumor. Hydrocele is present in 50% of patients with paratesticular fibrous pseudotumor, therefore paratesticular fibrous pseudotumor is attributed as the cause of hydrocele disease. Our study presents a very rare case of a man treated due to paratesticular fibrous pseudotumor. A 17-year-old man was presented to our hospital with painless growing mass in his right testicle and right hydrocele. The patient had a history of right scrotal trauma 4 years ago. Scrotal MRI revealed lobulated contoured and oval shaped multiple solid lesions the largest of 30x15 mm in length in the upper border of right testicle as well as a right hydrocele. The masses of the patient were excised and hydrocelectomy was performed. Pathologic examination indicated the paratesticular fibrous pseudotumor diagnosis. No recurrence was detected in 1 year follow-up period.

Background: In general, it is assumed that volatile anesthetics have not only dose and time dependent inhibitory effects on airway ciliary motility resulting in impairment of bronchociliary clearance, but also potential mutagenic/carcinogenic effects mostly under chronic exposure. We aimed to investigate the formation of micronuclei (MN) in nasal epithelium of 37 adult patients undergoing sevoflurane anesthesia for minor ear-throat (ET) surgical procedures. Besides, effect of smoking, age and gender on the genotoxicity test analyzed was also evaluated. \nMethods: The study was conducted by assessment of micronucleus assay in nasal epithelium cells of 37 American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status (ASA) I-II adult patients of both genders (18-65 years old) undergoing elective, minor (ET) surgical procedures ? 120 min, under anesthesia with sevoflurane. Anesthesia was induced and maintained by sevoflurane. The patients received remifentanil infusion at a rate of 0.3?g.kg-1.min-1. Nasal epithelial samples were collected at three time points: before anesthesia (T1), after recovery from anesthesia (T2) and on the twenty-first postoperative day (T3). \nResults: Sevoflurane anesthesia performed by mask induction; revealed a significant induction in the frequencies of micronucleus in nasal epithelial cells. No significant correlation was observed between the age, gender and smoking habits of patients and the frequencies of micronucleus.\nConclusion: The results suggest that short term administration of sevoflurane anesthesia may influence micronucleus formation in nasal epithelial cells of this patient population. However, further studies estimating the effects of prolonged administration of volatile anesthetics in various risk groups with a larger sample size could be conducted.

The emergence of technology has made the educators to deploy teaching tools to enhance the teaching learning process. The availability of vast computer applications provides room for the educators to deploy pedagogical virtual agents to promote learning engagement in higher education institutions. The diversified group of e-learners can achieve their learning goals by using the information and communication technology. However, the technology driven learning styles and the e-learners interest does not sustain for a long period of time. Therefore, the need arises to develop a tool that is effective for the 21st century and has the ability to capture the minds of the young e-learners. The current study examined the challenges faced by the e-learners in relation to the emotional interference, characteristics of pedagogical virtual agents and the level of satisfaction associated to the deployment of pedagogical virtual agents. Undergraduates from a higher education institution participated in this study (N=95). The findings suggest that it is vital to identify the emotional interference as it reflects on the e-learner’s learning satisfaction. It is also noted that there is a significant relationship between the emotional interference and characteristics of the pedagogical virtual agent. The findings are discussed in this paper.