Six hundred horse serum samples were analyzed for equine influenza virus-specific antibodies using competitive ELISA in Fars Province (south of Iran) (2011–2012). In our study, 2.5 % of horses had a ...positive reaction which was proved to be due to natural exposure to equine influenza virus. Of the horses, 1.94 % were positive in autumn and 5.47 % were positive in winter. No significant difference was found among the prevalences of the disease in different breeds. It was concluded that the seroprevalence of equine influenza is quite low in the south of Iran. In view of no vaccination coverage for equine influenza in the country, the necessity of surveillance should be considered.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
This paper introduces an agent-based micro-simulation model to acquire the responses of road freight transportation systems like the productivity of trucks, the capability of road freight ...transportation companies, and the economic state of actors to different regulatory reforms. The shippers, freight companies, and drivers are the key decision-makers . These agents have different choices, including transport carrier choice, shipping price, truck allocation to shipment, and empty backhauls. Performance measures were used for the calibration phase with less than 3.7% average error. Finally, three viable regulatory reforms were evaluated, and their performance measures were estimated and discussed. We found that the shipping cost will reduce by 6% if a competitive market structure replaces the mandatory freight assignment procedure. Furthermore, we observed a 20% increase in the market share of the top fifty transport companies and a 3% improvement in the overall productivity when the physical freight companies' branch requirements are relaxed.
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BFBNIB, GIS, IJS, KISLJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM, UPUK
•Proposing a scheme for increasing the detection of driving offenses.•Privacy concern is greater in the public report scenario than the private sector.•Public transit violation enforcement is ...recommended at the first stage of implementation.
Iran is a country with numerous traffic accidents, offenses, and disruptions. According to the deterrence theory, increased detection of traffic offenses would decrease violations. Detection of traffic offenses is insufficient in Iran due to the limited operational capacity of the police. Reducing traffic violations would reduce accidents, disorders, and socio-economic costs. In this paper, a scheme for detecting and reporting speeding and parking violations to infringement processing through a crowdsourcing platform is proposed as a solution considering Iran’s economic and social context. Two scenarios for detecting and reporting speeding and parking violations were considered: public reporting and private sector reporting. Public acceptance is a potential challenge for the implementation of the scenarios. Therefore, an online survey with 548 samples in Iran was conducted to identify the challenges. A bivariate ordered probit model was developed to identify the variables that influence the level of public acceptance for each of the two scenarios of the proposed scheme. Several factors contributing to public acceptance were found, including privacy concerns, penalties, traffic police performance and actions, and the private sector’s past performance. Based on the public acceptance of the proposed scheme, the results of this study recommend that transportation policymakers implement it based on monitoring feedback on implementation in three phases, including detecting violations on public transit and sending a warning message to the violator, issuing tickets based on the private sector’s reporting, and sending warning messages based on public reporting.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
We test a copula-based joint discrete–continuous model to unravel mode choice and travel distance decisions in a joint framework for school trips. This framework explicitly accounts for common ...unobserved factors that may affect both the mode choice and travel distance. Joint estimation of the models makes a significant difference in the effect of travel distance on willingness to walk to school. The absolute value of the travel distance coefficient in the mode choice model increases by 22% when a joint formulation is adopted instead of the conventional single estimations. We find a significant decrease of 19% in the coefficient of travel safety perception in the joint mode choice model compared to the single model. This underscores the impact of model specification, in terms of the variable effect interpretation and policy assessments. The effect magnitude of several policy-sensitive variables is discussed and compared with previous studies. Particularly, we indicate that the probability of walking is reduced by 0.85% due to a 1% increase in travel distance; accordingly, it propels parents to select non-active modes, particularly school bus. This study also demonstrates how addressing parental concerns about travel safety could double the propensity to walk to school.
How Are Children Accompanied to School? Ermagun, Alireza; Samimi, Amir
Journal of urban planning and development,
09/2016, Volume:
142, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
AbstractA growing number of parents accompany their children to and from school, to make sure they travel with the best care and minimum stress. Policies that aim at promoting nonmotorized modes of ...transportation or at least discouraging auto driving solely for the purpose of picking up or dropping off the kids may not be successful in practice unless primary concerns of parents are treated appropriately. School escorting decisions need to be investigated, as a decreasing trend in students’ travel freedom also decreases the tendency toward the use of active modes of travel, complicates intrahousehold activities that need to be considered in travel demand models, and increases externalities (e.g., safety, energy, and environmental risks) of the transportation systems. Two separate three-level nested logit models are developed to explore escort decisions in trips to and from school. In addition to addressing escort model misspecification, the authors’ models encompass a wide range of parental reservations such as safety and comfort that are typically ignored in previous research. A few policy sensitive variables, including commute distance, car ownership, income, and safety, were explicitly looked into and their influence on student escort behaviors was explained. Elasticities of the nested and multinomial logit models are compared to elaborate the consequences of model misspecification in terms of general conclusions and policy assessments. In some cases, the elasticities are even different in sign, and in some other cases elasticities of the nested logit are 16 times more than that of multinomial logit. Commute distance to school, which has a fundamental role in land-use decisions, for instance, is found to be sensitive to the model specification.
Transportation of live animals is an inevitable husbandry practice and has been identified as one of the main causes of stress. Miniature donkeys, because of their rarity and entertainment value, ...occupy a unique place among all domesticated animals in some countries. We hypothesized that transportation stress would produce changes in clinical and biochemical parameters of domestic and miniature donkeys (
Equus africanus asinus
). Ten clinically healthy donkeys were selected for this study. The overall study population was almost equally subdivided into six subgroups according to the breed (domestics and miniatures), sex (males and non-pregnant non-lactating females) and age (foals and adults). Donkeys up to 2 years of age and over 3 years old were called foals and adults, respectively. Heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR) and rectal temperature (RT) were measured before and after transport. Serum concentrations of chloride (Cl
−
), calcium (Ca
2+
), sodium (Na
+
), potassium (K
+
), magnesium (Mg
2+
) and phosphorus (P
−
) were measured. Following the transportation, serum concentrations of Ca
2+
, Na
+
and K
+
were significantly reduced in all the donkeys (
p
< 0.05). There were no significant differences in P
−
, Cl
−
and Mg
2+
levels before and after transportation. There were significant decreases in serum concentrations of Ca
2+
and K
+
in domestic, female and adult subgroups and in Na
+
levels in male and foal subgroups. According to the results of this study, transportation generally affects the physiological and biochemical status of domestic and miniature donkeys, regardless of interspecies differences. However, more studies are required to differentiate between the effects of transportation and effects of food and water deprivation during transport.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
The present study aims to comparatively evaluate the effects of different doses of intravenous xylazine and medetomidine on sedation and antinociception scores, and physiological and laboratory ...parameters in dromedary calves. Thirty clinically healthy male dromedary calves 15 ± 2 weeks old and weighing 95 ± 5.5 kg were studied. Two groups received xylazine at low (0.2 mg/kg) and high (0.4 mg/kg) doses. Two groups received medetomidine at low (10 µg/kg) and high (20 µg/kg) doses. One group received normal saline. Sedation signs were scored using a 3‐point scale. Analgesic effect was analyzed using pinpricks. Data were analyzed by one‐way ANOVA and Mann–Whitney U‐tests. Sedation and antinociception scores of the animals 1 hr after receiving the higher dose of xylazine and medetomidine were significantly higher than that of other groups. Compared with other studied groups, the animals receiving the higher dose of xylazine showed significantly higher potassium and creatinine serum levels after 24 hr. Doses as high as 0.4 mg/kg for xylazine and 20 µg/kg for medetomidine can be considered safe and useful for procedures associated with mild pain in dromedary calves.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
AbstractThe recent decrease in physical activity among youth, which has resulted in increasing obesity and in overweight individuals, has attracted global attention and a renewed sense of ...investigation in both public and academic circles. However, using active modes of transportation (AMT) to and from school can serve as a bulwark against inactivity and the increase in cases of obesity and excess weight. In an attempt to study and counteract this growing phenomenon, more than 4,700 questionnaires were distributed in 92 schools throughout Tehran in a random stratified sampling method according to location and gender differences, and 3,441 responses were received (72% response rate). Significant factors affecting each gender’s propensity to choose active modes of transportation to and from school were separated and identified. Among females, 45% chose an AMT to school, and 52% did so for return trips home, both of which are higher than the males’ propensity to choose AMT. Among males, 39% chose an AMT to school, and 46% did so for the way back. Female tolerance in active modes of transportation also proved to be greater than that of males such that with an increase in costly factors (e.g., increases in travel time), economic considerations (e.g., household car ownership), and tougher topography, females substituted away from AMT less than males.
Changes of serum amyloid A (SAA), haptoglobin (Hp), ceruloplasmin, fibrinogen, and lipid-associated sialic acid (LSA) were assessed in sheep fed high grain rations with negative alterations of ...digestive functions. During a period of 30 days (divided into three equal steps), eight Karakul lambs were divided into a control (n = 4) and an experiment group (n = 4). The control group was fed a ration consisting of 80% alfalfa hay and 20% wheat straw for the whole period of the study. In the experiment group, ground barley was substituted for 40% of the ration for the first step (10 days) and 62.5% of the ration for the rest of the study (20 days). Negative alterations of digestive functions (decreased rumen pH, reduced feces consistency and dry matter, and reduced feed intake) were evidenced in the experiment group after day 10. On day 0 (beginning of the study) and days 8 and 10 of each step, serum (for SAA, HP, ceruloplasmin, and LSA) and plasma samples (for fibrinogen) were collected from jugular vein. The averages of the eighth and tenth days were used for statistical study. SAA increased in both groups from day 10 afterwards. This increase was significant (P < 0.05) in the experiment group on day 20. Great variations were observed in the concentrations of SAA in individual sheep of the control group. On day 20, the concentration of SAA was significantly higher in the experiment group than that of the control sheep (P < 0.05). HP increased in both groups from day 10 with sharp rises on day 20 (P < 0.05 in the experiment group). Great variations were obvious in the control group on days 20 and 30. Ceruloplasmin, fibrinogen, and LSA were almost constant at various stages of the study with no significant difference between groups. The results reveal that, unlike SAA and HP, levels of ceruloplasmin, fibrinogen, and LSA may not be affected by high grain rations, digestive disorders such as SARA and/or the confounding parameters such as stress. More investigations with larger numbers of animals and focusing on specific markers for stress are suggested for precise differentiations.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
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