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Normal-weight obesity (NWO), characterized by normal body mass index (BMI) but excess body fat, is a potential contributor to chronic diseases. This study aims to assess the relationship between this phenomenon and some metabolic factors in a population of Iranian employees.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on Iranian employees from the baseline data of Employees Health Cohort Study, Shiraz, Iran. Anthropometric measures, including weight, height, waist circumference and percentage of body fat, were obtained from the cohort database. The participants were divided into three groups: healthy, normal-weight obese and overweight/obese. Metabolic variables including blood pressure, fasting blood sugar, lipid profile, liver function enzymes and metabolic syndrome were assessed in relation to the study groups.

A total of 985 participants aged 25–64 years were included. Males with NWO had significantly higher alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels compared to the healthy group in the fully adjusted model. Also, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) was significantly lower among females with overweight/obesity than healthy group when adjusted for age and energy intake. Furthermore, after adjusting for age and energy intake, both genders in the overweight/obese group showed significantly elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressure, while this was not observed for the NWO group. Lastly, metabolic syndrome was more prevalent in NWO as well as overweight/obesity.

These findings further encourage identification of excess body fat, even in normal-weight individuals, to prevent chronic metabolic diseases. Special attention should be paid to subgroups with sedentary occupations, as they may be at increased risk for NWO-related health issues.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of methyl donor supplementation on anthropometric indices, body composition, glycemic control, lipid profile, homocysteine and appetite regulatory hormones in overweight and obese subjects.

This randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial was conducted on overweight and obese subjects in Shiraz, Iran, in 2018. The 25 participants in each intervention and control group were required to take methyl donor supplement and placebo, respectively, for eight weeks. A variety of measurements was collected at baseline and the end of the study. The data were analyzed using SPSS 21 software.

The results indicated a significant reduction in weight, body mass index, body fat and waist and hip circumference (p < 0.001 for all parameters) within both groups and a significant improvement in skeletal muscle (p = 0.005), fat-free mass (p = 0.006), visceral fat area (p < 0.001) and body cell mass (p = 0.004) in the intervention group. Also, the results showed a significant difference between the two groups regarding serum homocysteine concentration at the end of the intervention (p < 0.001).

The results demonstrated that methyl donor supplementation might have effects on the improvement of anthropometric indices, body composition, glycemic and lipid profile status and appetite regulatory hormones among obese and overweight individuals. These effects might be attributed to their roles in energy metabolism, protein synthesis and epigenetics regulation.

This study aims at developing a framework to investigate and analyze sustainable competitiveness in tourism destinations.

This study has a qualitative approach, and it has been conducted by use of a comprehensive literature review. First, the key concepts of the study such as destination competitiveness, sustainable development, stakeholders’ attitude and performance and tourist loyalty were identified. Then, an integrative review was conducted on literature regarding the mentioned keywords. More related resources were selected and critically reviewed to explore gaps. For this purpose, a search was conducted at databases such as Emerald, Elsevier and ScienceDirect.

An appropriate framework for tourism sustainable development and, in particular, for its sustainable competitiveness, requires considering economic, sociocultural and ecological dimensions on the one hand, and considering all stakeholders participating in tourism process on the other hand.

The model suggested in this study can be applied by managers and policymakers in various destinations to investigate true competitiveness situation of their tourist destinations. It also can be theoretically a start point to raise further issues and studies on destination competitiveness by adopting a new sustainability approach.

From reviewing previous studies, it is clear that most models developed on destination competitiveness only consider creation of competitiveness and destination’s characteristics. In addition, a sustainability approach has rarely been considered in these studies. A model or a framework specially designed for evaluating and investigating sustainability of destination competitiveness has not been developed yet. In this sense, the proposed framework in this study is a new one. What differentiates this model with previous ones is the sustainability approach to the competitiveness and taking all stakeholders of the competition process into account.

Project managers' competencies contribute toward project success in a considerable manner. The significance of technical competencies' (TCs) contribution toward success in Oil and Gas (O&G) projects is even higher due to the complexity and the technology-intensive nature of these projects. However, technical competencies have often been overlooked in favor of behavioral competencies or simply identified and listed in terms of their significance. Thus, there is currently very limited research-based knowledge concerning the contribution mechanisms of technical competencies toward project execution success. Hence, the aim of this study is to explore the contribution mechanisms of TCs toward success in O&G projects.

A case study was employed as the research strategy through which data was collected from project professionals in O&G projects in the Kingdom of Bahrain using semi-structured interviews. Transcripts of the interviews were then analyzed through thematic analysis method with the aid of NVIVO 12.

The findings reveal six mechanisms through which technical competencies of project managers contribute toward execution success in O&G projects. TCs not only act as a launch pad toward project success, but also help in optimizing engineering designs throughout the project life cycle.

Instead of simply identifying and listing TCs, the obtained results enhance our current understanding of their contribution mechanisms toward project success in O&G projects.

The purpose of this article is to study the steady laminar magnetohydrodynamics mixed convection stagnation-point flow of an alumina-graphene/water hybrid nanofluid with spherical nanoparticles over a vertical permeable plate with focus on dual similarity solutions.

The single-phase hybrid nanofluid modeling is based on nanoparticles and base fluid masses instead of volume fraction of first and second nanoparticles as inputs. After substituting pertinent similarity variables into the basic partial differential equations governing on the problem, the authors obtain a complicated system of nondimensional ordinary differential equations, which has non-unique solution in a certain range of the buoyancy parameter. It is worth mentioning that, the stability analysis of the solutions is also presented and it is shown that always the first solutions are stable and physically realizable.

It is proved that the magnetic parameter and the wall permeability parameter widen the range of the buoyancy parameter for which the solution exists; however, the opposite trend is valid for second nanoparticle mass. Besides, mass suction at the surface of the plate as well as magnetic parameter leads to reduce both hydrodynamic and thermal boundary layer thicknesses. Moreover, the assisting flow regime always has higher values of similarity skin friction and Nusselt number relative to opposing flow regime.

A novel mass-based model of the hybridity in nanofluids has been used to study the foregoing problem with focus on dual similarity solutions. The results of this paper are completely original and, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the numerical results of the present paper were never published by any researcher.

This paper aims to simulate the steady laminar mixed convection incompressible viscous and electrically conducting hybrid nanofluid (CuO-Cu/blood) flow near the plane stagnation-point over a horizontal porous stretching sheet along with an external magnetic field and induced magnetic field effects that can be applicable in the biomedical fields like the flow dynamics of the micro-circulatory system and especially in drug delivery.

The basic partial differential equations (PDEs) are altered to a set of dimensionless ordinary differential equations (ODEs) with the help of suitable similarity variables which are then solved numerically using bvp4c scheme from MATLAB. Inasmuch as validation results have shown a good agreement with previous reports, the present novel mass-based algorithm can be used in this problem with great confidence. Governing parameters are both nanoparticle masses, base fluid mass, empirical shape factor of both nanoparticles, suction/injection parameter, magnetic parameter, reciprocal magnetic Prandtl number, Prandtl number, heat source parameter, mixed convection parameter, permeability parameter and frequency ratio. The effect of these parameters on the flow and heat transfer characteristics of the problem is discussed in detail.

It is shown that the use of CuO and Cu hybrid nanoparticles can reduce the hemodynamics effect of the capillary relative to pure blood case. Moreover, as the imposed magnetic field enhances, the velocity of the blood decreases. Besides, when the blade shapes for both nanoparticles are taken into account, the local heat transfer rate is maximum that is also compatible with experimental observations.

An innovative mass-based model of CuO-Cu/blood hybrid nanofluid has been applied. The novel attitude to one-phase hybrid nanofluid model corresponds to considering nanoparticles mass as well as base fluid mass to computing the solid equivalent volume fraction, the solid equivalent density and also solid equivalent specific heat.