Hand or machine? A second look at ventilators.

Validation of the utilization of a specific spray machine to apply general herbicide (Glyphosate) for controlling weeds in chickpea farms in dry land areas of Iran

Weeds are a serious problem of chickpea cultivation in rain-fed areas of Iran and economic feasibility of crop production is mostly challenged by the method of control. In this study, two types of weed control strategies which are common in the country, including hand removing and hand removing + mechanical application, were compared with application of general herbicide (Glyphosite) using a sp...

Second-Hand Smoke Exposure at Home in the United States; Minorities’ Diminished Returns

Introduction: Educational attainment and poverty status are two strong socioeconomic status (SES) indicators that protect individuals against exposure to second-hand smoke. Minorities’ Diminished Returns (MDRs), however, refer to smaller protective effects of SES indicators among ethnic minority groups such as Hispanics and Blacks, compared to non-Hispanic Whites. This...

Critique of Research Book (Art)/ Structure or Text: A Look at the Art of Plot Forming, Shaapur Azimi

Endoscopic Middle Ear and Mastoid Surgery for Cholesteatoma

Introduction: To reduce incidence of residual cholesteatoma following ear surgery; and to reduce the need for second look “open” mastoidectomy using endoscopic mastoidotomy. Ten-year retrospective chart review of 249 primary cholesteatoma cases (1994-2004) with a minimum follow-up of two years.  The first objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of otoendoscopy in reducing the incidence of “...

Integrated Inspection Planning and Preventive Maintenance for a Markov Deteriorating System Under Scenario-based Demand Uncertainty

In this paper, a single-product, single-machine system under Markovian deterioration of machine condition and demand uncertainty is studied.  The objective is to find the optimal intervals for inspection and preventive maintenance activities in a condition-based maintenance planning with discrete monitoring framework. At first, a stochastic dynamic programming model whose state variable is the ...