Introduction: To assess efficiency as a relative concept, the difference between real and expected values must be determined by comparing the productivity of economic units of industry and the efficiency in potential production conditions. As economic units, hospitals need to utilize efficiency analysis in order to make optimal use of their available resources. Therefore, the present study compared the efficiency of different hospitals of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences.Methods: Since this applied analytical research referred to the documents and performance statistics of hospitals and therfore used real data, evaluating the validity and reliability had no relevance. In order to measure the relative efficiency of health care in 16 hospitals associated with Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and also to determine efficient and inefficient hospitals during 2005-2007, CCR (Charnes-Cooper-Rhodes) input oriented multiplier model of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was used for data analysis. In addition, AP (Anderson-Peterson) model was used to rank efficient hospitals. LINDO software was utilized to solve the model.Results: Based on our results, 43.75%, 31.25% and 37.5% of hospitals were efficient respectively in 2005, 2006 and 2007.Conclusion: The results suggested that the efficiency of inefficient hospitals could be improved through the potential savings in resources (62.44% in infrastructure, 43.88% in the number of active beds, 37.15% in the number of physicians and 38.58% in the number of paramedics).

The neoclassical growth model is tested by use of panel data procedure in this research. In the econometric test, simoultanously time series and cross detection will be compared on the basis of panel data method through which their observed points increase and consequently the estimation efficiency will be increased. The examination of neoclassical growth theory has been done with reference to external & internal factors of 52 selected countries from 1960 to 2000. The independent variable of model has been selected on the basis of the result of previous research which explains the result in three separate models: developed countries, developing countries, and whole countries. These factors are such as: Gross National Products with lag of period, work force age, growth rate, education level, the change of capital accumulation and economic trade volum. The consequences of this research is that: neoclassical growth model can explain the major part of economic growth of the countries with use of internal variables. Also with the use of panel procedure of fixed effect, we can see the fundamental differences and structure of the growth process for different countries; and show how the economic, and social conditions affect on the growth.

Extended Abstract Background: Honeybees have an important role in the pollination of plants. Apis florea Fabricius, 1787, has been described over the last two centuries.   A. florea is distributed in Vietnam, south-eastern China, India, Nepal, southern Thailand, Sri Lanka, Sudan, southern Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. The climatic zones of A. florea change from tropical rainforest in the east to savannah in the west. Furthermore, westwards, the climatic zones change from tropical to subtropical steppe and semi-desert. Morphometric data were used in addition to analyses of molecular data to study the honeybees. Morphometric analyses are flexible tools employed by users in different areas of the world. The geometric morphometric method uses landmarks that can be located precisely on the vein junctions of wings. The geometric morphometric method has been used to compare the populations of A. florea. In addition, traditional or standard morphometric methods have been used to study the populations of A. florea in various areas of the world. The landmark configurations eliminate the effects of position, orientation, and size of shapes. Data on shapes are converted into Procrustes coordinates using the geometric morphometric method. Regression analysis between centroid size and Procrustes coordinates creates new data on the residuals, which can be applied in other analyses. No published research has utilized residual coordinates (residual data) to compare the populations of A. florea. Therefore, the current research aimed to compare the performance efficacy of residual and Procrustes coordinates in differentiation and relationships among the populations of A. florea in various areas of the world. Methods: Samples of the A. florea honeybee species were prepared from their distributed areas. The right forewings of honeybees were used to study the relationships among the various populations. Eighty samples were selected from each area. A tps file was built by importing the right forewing pictures into TpsUtil V. 1. 64 software. Then, the tps file was loaded into tpsDig V. 2. 18. Twenty landmarks were digitized in the vein junctions of the forewings. This was followed by the raw data obtained from landmarks, loaded into the MorphoJ software V. 1. 06d, and converted into Procrustes coordinates for use in future analyses, followed by analyzing the Procrustes coordinates. Mahalanobis distances and canonical variates were obtained using permutation tests. The regression between Procrustes data and centroid sizes was calculated, and an allometry test was performed afterward. The residual coordinates (residual data) were obtained after the removal of the size effect (size correction) from shape variables. The residual and Procrustes data were imported into PAST software v. 3. 19, and the populations of A. florea were compared using Canonical Variate Analysis (CVA). Moreover, clusters were drawn with the residual and Procrustes data using SAS v. 8 software. Results: Multivariate (MANOVA) and pair-wise analyses of residual and Procrustes data were tested for the populations of A. florea. The Procrustes and residual data of the populations showed statistically significant differences using MANOVA (p < 0. 001). Moreover, the tested pairwise comparisons indicated that all populations were significantly different in Procrustes and residual data (p < 0. 001). The landmark configurations of forewings were superimposed, and variations were obtained between the populations. The highest variation was found in the vein junction of R and Rs, landmark 19 (S2 = 0. 0000622). The lowest variation was observed in the vein junction of Cu and 1m-cu, landmark 8 (S2 = 0. 0000109). The populations of various areas were compared using Canonical Variate Analysis (CVA). In the CVA of Procrustes data (Procrustes coordinates), the first and second components included 75. 94% of all variation (CV1 = 28. 74% and CV2 = 47. 20%). In addition, in the CVA of residual data, the first and second components included 83. 06 % of all variation (CV1 = 31. 46 % and CV2 = 51. 60 %). The CVA results of Procrustes data showed that the Pakistan samples overlapped with the Iranian samples, except for the Kerman population. Sudan samples overlapped with the Iranian samples of Bushehr, Shiraz, and Sistan and Balochestan. Additionally, Oman samples showed partial overlapping with South India and Kerman (Iran). The CVA results of residual data showed that the Pakistan samples overlapped with the Iranian samples, except for the Kerman population. Sudan samples were differentiated from Iranian samples. In addition, the Oman samples showed partial overlapping with South India. Both Procrustes and residual data differentiated the populations of Thailand and Vietnam from the other populations. Cluster analysis was used to compare the populations of A. florea in various areas. The cluster derived from Procrustes data indicated that Sri Lanka was closer to the populations of Iran, except for the Kerman samples. Furthermore, the Sudan and Pakistan populations were categorized under one group. In addition, the cluster derived from the residual data indicated that the Pakistan population was closer to the populations of Iran, except for the Kerman samples. The Sri Lankan population indicated a closer relationship with India, and the Sudanese population was differentiated from the other populations.    Conclusions: The recent findings showed that residual data revealed greater efficacy than Procrustes data in differentiation and relationships between the populations of A. florea. The results of the derived cluster from residual data indicated closer relationships of A. florea populations from Pakistan and Sri Lanka with Iran and South India, respectively.

Todays gamma knife radiosurgery is used widely for treatment of very small brain tumors. In order to investigate accuracy of dosimetry and treatment planning calculations, using Monte Carlo simulation with dedicated code named as beamnrc including non-CT data and CT data options is necessary. The aim of this study is choosing the best options in order to have an accurate tools based on their advantages and disadvantages. In this study, gamma knife unit 4C along with standard water equivalent phantom and EBT3 films were used to obtain dose distributions. Monte Carlo simulation was done with non-CT data and CT data options of the code and their resulting dose were compared. Comparison the calculated and measured dose distributions at X, Y and Z axis showed gamma value below 1 which verified Monte Carlo simulations. Also comparing the dose distributions from both non-CT data and CT data with each other implies that there is no significant difference between two methods. Based on the obtained results using non-CT data and CT data results in the same dose distribution. So for simplicity, using non CT data for regular phantom shapes is preferred.

In this study, a comprehensive meta-analysis was conducted using a random-effects model to examine the relationship between money supply and inflation and to address inconsistencies in previous research. The overall effect of money supply on inflation was estimated at 0/578, providing a broad measure of its impact. However, an assessment using a funnel plot and Egger's test revealed publication bias. To correct for this bias, the "trim and fill" method was applied, reducing the adjusted overall effect to 0/475. Additionally, meta-regression and subgroup analyses were performed to investigate moderating variables. The results showed that the effect of money supply on inflation differs across fixed and floating exchange rate regimes, time periods before and after 2000, and between static and dynamic models. These findings contribute to a clearer understanding of the impact of monetary and economic policies on inflation and provide a foundation for future research.

Missing data is a chronic disease in applications of data envelopment analysis. Very often, important input or output variables are not completely specified and/or the decision-making units do not report all the required statistics. Therefore, the missing values in the inputs and outputs cannot be studied using the original data envelopment analysis models. This paper introduces methods for finding missing data when the existing data is certain. In this article, after explaining the essential concepts of missing values, we describe some methods of missing value imputation that reduce the complexity of data analysis. There are several methods for imputing missing data, including various methods of simple imputation and multiple imputation. This paper is the first systematic attempt to utilize data containing missing values using statistical approaches in the DEA. In particular, we examine what happens if we keep empty entries in the data set and assign a certain numeric value to them. To show how the proposed methods work, they will be used to evaluate a set of secondary public schools in Greece in some of which there are missing input or output values.