Smoking status in Iranian male adolescents: A cross-sectional study and a meta-analysis

The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence of smoking status and its associated factors in Iranian adolescents and a meta-analysis of recent cross-sectional studies in order to estimate the corresponding prevalence for all Iranian adolescents. In a cross-sectional study, 1064 male high school students in Zanjan city (northwest of Iran) were recruited. A self-administered questionnaire was used for smoking status and associated factors. Through the meta-analysis, all relevant published studies were reviewed. Almost one-third of adolescents (34.2, n =354) have experienced smoking either experimentally (23.4, n=242), or regularly (10.8, n=112). Multivariate analysis showed that older age (OR = 1.20; 95 CI: 1.05-1.37), risky behaviors (OR=1.83; 1.25-2.68), Tramadol medication (OR = 2.19; 1.54-3.11), low self-esteem (OR 1.07; 1.03-1.11), positive attitude toward smoking (OR= 1.15; 1.09-1.21), positive thinking about smoking (OR= 1.07; 1.01-1.14) and having smoker friends (OR= 1.94; 1.36-2.77) were significantly associated with cigarette smoking in adolescents. Meta-analysis results showed that 7 of Iranian adolescents are regular smokers and 27 are experimenters. Increasing prevalence of smoking in Iranian adolescents is a major concern for public health. Controlling risky behaviors and increasing health education are recommended. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Discrete Model of Ideological Struggle Accounting for Migration

A discrete in time model of ideological competition is formulated taking into account population migration. The model is based on interactions between global populations of non-believers and followers of different ideologies. The complex dynamics of the attracting manifolds is investigated. Conversion from one ideology to another by means of (i) mass media influence and (ii) interpersonal relations is considered. Moreover a different birth rate is assumed for different ideologies, the rate being assumed to be positive for the reference population, made of initially non-believers. Ideological competition can happen in one or several regions in space. In the latter case, migration of non-believers and adepts is allowed; this leads to an enrichment of the ideological dynamics. Finally, the current ideological situation in the Arab countries and China is commented upon from the point of view of the presently developed mathematical model. The massive forced conversion by Ottoman Turks in the Balkans is briefly discussed.Comment: 24 pages, with 5 figures and 52 refs.; prepared for a Special issue of Advances in Complex System

Epidemiological Patterns of Road Traffic Crashes During the Last Two Decades in Iran: A Review of the Literature from 1996 to 2014

Context: Despite considerable attention given to health statistics of road traffic crashes (RTCs), the epidemiological aspects of injuries resulting from RTCs are not fully understood in Iran and other developing countries. The aim of this review was to study the epidemiological pattern and issues arising due to RTCs in Iran. Evidence Acquisition: The scope of this study involves data from a broad range of published literature on RTCs in Iran. Data collection for this study was conducted by searching for keywords such as traffic accidents, traffic crashes, motorcycle accidents, motorcycle crashes, motorcycle injury, motor vehicle injury, motor vehicle crashes and motor vehicle accidents, Iran and Iranian in various databases such as Embase, PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Magiran, Iranian scientific information database (SID) and IranMedex. Results: This study comprised of 95 articles. It is evident from this review that a large number of severe RTCs occur due to collision of two or more vehicles and most of the victims are males aged between 30 and 39 years. Male pedestrian, drivers and passengers are more likely to be severely injured in comparison to females. One of the most prevalent causes of death among adults involved in the RTCs are head injuries and the majority of deaths occur prior to hospitalization. Mortality rates for RTCs are higher in summer, especially during midnight among all age groups. The most common individual and environmental risk factors associated with RTCs include lack of attention, getting trapped in the car, listening to music, fatigue and sleepiness, duration and distance and negligence of seatbelt usage while driving. Conclusions: The findings of the current study will be beneficial in prevention of RTCs and its associated complications and hence will be vital for policy makers, health service managers and stakeholders

The association between metabolic syndrome and its components with systemic lupus erythematosus: a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies

Objectives: Based upon inflammatory-related factors in chronic systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), as well as the long-term prescription of corticosteroids, metabolic syndrome (MetS) prevalence is expected to be higher in SLE patients than among those without SLE. The aim of this study was to systematically analyze: (1) the worldwide prevalence of MetS in patients with SLE using different criteria, (2) the risk of MetS in patients with SLE compared with those without SLE, and (3) the risk of MetS component in patients with SLE compared with healthy controls. Methods: We searched international databases, such as: Web of Science, Medline, PubMed, Scopus, Embase, CABI, CINAHL, DOAJ and Google Scholar. The articles which reported the prevalence of MetS in SLE patients, between 2006 and 2017, were included in the study if they had a: clear study design, study time and location, sound sampling approach and appropriate statistical analyses. Studies without sufficient data to determine the prevalence of MetS were excluded. Also, studies in patients suffering from other clinical diseases were not included. Results: The meta-analyses of the prevalence (40 studies (n = 6085)) and risk (20 studies (n = 2348)) of MetS in SLE patients were conducted separately. The pooled prevalence of MetS among SLE patients was found to be 26 (95 confidence interval (CI): 22-30), but varied from 18 (95 CI: 11-25) to 34 (95 CI: 25-42), depending upon the diagnostic criteria used. The overall pooled odds ratio (OR) of MetS in SLE patients, compared with healthy controls, was (OR = 2.50; 95 CI: 1.86-3.35), but this ranged from (OR = 1.23; 95 CI: 0.61-2.49) to (OR = 10.71; 95 CI: 1.33-86.48), depending upon the criteria used. Also, the risk of high fasting blood sugar (FBS; OR = 1.59; 95 CI: 1.05-2.40), low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C; OR = 1.43; 95 CI: 1.02-2.01), high blood pressure (BP; OR = 2.76; 95 CI: 2.19-3.47), high triglycerides (TG; OR = 2.85; 95 CI: 2.05-3.95) and high waist circumference (WC; OR = 1.37; 95 CI: 0.97-1.94) were all found to be higher in SLE patients compared with healthy controls. Conclusions: The risk of MetS was significantly higher in SLE patients, compared with healthy controls, even after adjusting for publication bias. Among MetS components, high TG and high BP were most strongly associated with SLE. Considering that high TG and high BP are preventable, there is an international need to implement effective interventions to reduce MetS components in SLE patients in order to prevent serious outcomes such as cardiovascular diseases and mortality

Securitizing the Muslim Brotherhood: state violence and authoritarianism in Egypt after the Arab Spring

Unprecedented levels of state violence against the Muslim Brotherhood, and the widespread acceptance of this violence by Egyptians following the July 2013 military coup, have been under-examined by scholars of both critical security studies and Middle East politics, reflecting implicit assumptions that state violence is unexceptional beyond Europe. This article explores how the deployment of such levels of violence was enabled by a securitization process in which the Egyptian military successfully appropriated popular opposition to Muslim Brotherhood rule, constructing the group as an existential threat to Egypt and justifying special measures against it. The article builds on existing critiques of the Eurocentrism of securitization theory, alongside the writings of Antonio Gramsci, to further refine its application to non-democratic contexts. In addition to revealing the exceptionalism of state violence against the Muslim Brotherhood and highlighting the important role of nominally non-state actors in constructing the Muslim Brotherhood as a threat to Egypt, the article also signals the role of securitization in re-establishing authoritarian rule in the wake of the 2011 uprising. Thus, we argue that securitization not only constitutes a break from ‘normal politics’ but may also be integral to the reconstitution of ‘normal politics’ following a period of transition

Developing an Android-based Screen Lock Application for Arabic Vocabulary Enrichment of the Tenth Graders at the Madrasah Aliyah

This research aims at developing an Android-based screen lock application for Arabic vocabulary enrichment of the Tenth Grade Students at the Madrasah Aliyah. The research design used is the research and development model proposed by Borg & Gall, with some modification, according to the research needs. The Data are gathered through scoring sheets and then analyzed using descriptive and percentage techniques. The end result of the research is an Android-based screen lock application that consists of seventy sets of Arabic vocabulary, containing three hundred Arabic words. These vocabulary items are presented randomly on the handphone’s screen as a set of questions whose correct answers will allow students to have access to their phones. The results of the research demonstrate that according to the expert and field test the application is valid, with each of the content and appearance experts scored 82%, and both teacher and students at the school scored 95% and 81%, respectively.     Keywords: Android, screen lock, application, Arabic vocabulary, tenth grade, Madrasah Aliya

Desarrollo de algoritmos de phase-shifting con pasos arbitrarios

En las últimas décadas, técnicas como la interferometría, la perfilometría por proyección de franjas o la deflectometría se han transformado en herramientas indispensables para la ciencia y la ingeniería. Estas técnicas tienen en común que la información buscada se encuentra en la fase de un patrón de franjas bidimensional. De las varias técnicas que existen para la extracción de la fase de los patrones de franjas, en la presente tesis se estudia el método conocido como phase-shifting. Nuestro objetivo central fue el desarrollo de algoritmos de phase-shifting con pasos arbitrarios. Se desarrollaron algoritmos para superar diferentes fuentes de error como por ejemplo la presencia de armónicos, la mala determinación del desplazamiento asociado a cada imagen o la presencia de ruido aleatorio en las imágenes. En el desarrollo de este trabajo, se obtuvo también un algoritmo que permite determinar el desfasaje entre interferogramas consecutivos cuando dicho desfasaje no es conocido, permitiendo recuperar la fase asociada a un sistema sin necesidad de calibrarlo. Por último, con el objetivo de estudiar la calidad de los datos adquiridos, se propuso un procedimiento para determinar el contraste en el caso de interferogramas arbitrariamente desfasados. En todos los casos se presentaron simulaciones y resultados experimentales.In recent decades, techniques such as interferometry, fringe projection profilometry or deflectometry have become indispensable tools for science and engineering. These techniques have in common that the information sought is in the phase of a two-dimensional fringe pattern. Of the various techniques that exist for the extraction of phase from fringe patterns, the method known as phase-shifting is studied in this thesis. Our main objective was the development of phase-shifting algorithms with arbitrary steps. The algorithms were developed to overcome different sources of error such as the presence of harmonics, the poor determination of the displacement associated with each image or the presence of random noise in the images. In the development of this work, we also obtained an algorithm that allows to determine the phase change between consecutive interferograms when the phase change is unknown, allowing the phase associated with a system to be recovered without needing to calibrate it. Finally, to study the quality of the acquired data, a procedure was proposed to determine the contrast in the case of arbitrarily displaced interferograms. Simulations and experimental results were presented in all cases

Lesson Study Kaitannya dengan Peningkatan Kompetensi dalam Pembelajaran

Improving the quality of learning needs to be improved in an effort to improve the quality of education in Indonesia. Educators, in this case, teachers and lecturers, need to design learning so that the intended competencies can be achieved optimally. In addition, educators must also be able to evaluate themselves in an effort to improve the learning process that has been carried out. The purpose of this study is to describe lesson study in relation to increasing competence in learning. The research method used is a qualitative descriptive method, namely collecting library data from various sources, reading, recording, and processing research materials. The results of the study stated that lesson study as a form of fostering an educator in learning can collaborate with models, methods, strategies, and approaches and can be used as a benchmark for the learning process that has been carried out. Competence in this case relates to individual behavior consisting of affective, cognitive, and psychomotor Keywords: lesson study, learning competenc