• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.893-910
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to identify changes in mental models of students in the elementary school about causes of seasonal changes. During a total of eight sessions, eight sixth graders were asked to describe the causes of seasonal changes through pictures, writing and thinking aloud by using microgenetic research methods, and the changes in mental models were examined. When the research was conducted, linguistic and behavioral factors and contents of interviews of participants were recorded on video. Moreover, a variety of materials such as field observation chart were written by a researcher and mental models records were written by a student. The protocol was written by integration of collected results, and it was repeated to read and was inductively categorized. The results of this study were as follows: First, participants' mental models about causes of seasonal changes were changed in various paths within and across sessions. Participants' mental models that had been more changed in various ways were closer to the scientific model. In addition, like rotation and revolution, students who correctly established the preconceptions related to seasonal changes formed the mental models consistent with scientific concept based on new information. On the other hand, students who did not correctly establish the preconceptions did not deviate from non-scientific mental models. Second, prior knowledge, experience and information which participants held in advance, accuracy of prior knowledge, resolution of inconsistency between new knowledge and existing mental models, activation of mental models through operation of models and drawing an picture affected the changes of mental models. Teachers should provide to learners with sufficient experience which can be configured to various mental models in order to form the scientific concepts. And they need to let learners feel the doubt and resolve it through presentation of new teaching material which is inconsistent with the existing mental models.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.413-418
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• 2014

Hydatid cyst caused by Echinococcus granulosus is one of the most important parasitic diseases around the world and many countries in Asia, including Iran, are involved with this infection. This disease can cause high mortality in humans as well as economic losses in livestock. To date, several molecular methods have been used to determine the genetic diversity of E. granulosus. So far, identification of E. granulosus using real-time PCR fluorescence-based quantitative assays has not been studied worldwide, also in Iran. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the genetic diversity of E. granulosus from center of Iran using real-time PCR method. A total of 71 hydatid cysts were collected from infected sheep, goat, and cattle slaughtered in Isfahan, Iran during 2013. DNA was extracted from protoscolices and/or germinal layers from each individual cyst and used as template to amplify the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 gene (cox1) (420 bp). Five cattle isolates out of 71 isolates were sterile and excluded from further investigation. Overall, of 66 isolates, partial sequences of the cox1 gene of E. granulosus indicated the presence of genotypes G1 in 49 isolates (74.2%), G3 in 15 isolates (22.7%), and G6 in 2 isolates (3.0%) in infected intermediate hosts. Sixteen sequences of G1 genotype had microgenetic variants, and they were compared to the original sequence of cox1. However, isolates identified as G3 and G6 genotypes were completely consistent with original sequences. G1 genotype in livestock was the dominant genotype in Isfahan region, Iran.