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BackgroundDeaf or hard-of-hearing children experience difficulties in learning health principles. But technology has significantly improved their ability to learn. The challenge in e-learning is to design attractive applications while having an educational aspect.ObjectiveThe aims of this study were to determine the pedagogical effectiveness of a health education application for deaf and hard of hearing students in elementary schools, and to investigate the student’s perceptions in different educational grades about the educational effectiveness of the text, graphics, video clips, and animation in the application.MethodsThe study design was quasi experimental and was conducted in Mashhad in 2016. Study population were deaf or hard-of-hearing students in elementary schools. The intervention included health application training to deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Mashhad. A questionnaire was used for data gathering. The pedagogical effectiveness was determined by measuring the modified Adapted Pedagogical Index. This index was created based on the characteristics of the application and study population. Statistical analysis was performed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann–Whitney tests with Bonferroni adjustment by SPSS 22.ResultsEighty-two students participated in the intervention. The value of modified Adapted Pedagogical Index was 0.669, indicating that the application was effective. The results of Kruskal-Wallis H and Mann–Whitney U test showed significant differences in different educational grades. (p<0.008)ConclusionUsing information technology can improve the education of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Modified Adapted Pedagogical Index can be used for evaluation of non-interactive applications for elementary school children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

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Improper working capital policies may put companies in a situation where they may have difficulty securing their cash resources; in the financial sector, this is called a liquidity trap. The liquidity trap implies the inability of companies to provide cash resources due to inappropriate working capital policies. Theoretically speaking, companies falling into the liquidity trap have difficulty in fulfilling their obligations and paying off debts, due to applying proper liquidity policies; resulting from lack of cash flows or cash outflows, due to the internal or external factors, they are subject to financial limitations and ultimately bankruptcy. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether the companies listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange that have been fallen in the liquidity trap, eventually go bankrupt; using the data of 206 companies in the period of 2008-2017 and based on the liquidity trap prediction model of Vakili Fard et al., the financial limitation prediction models of Kaplan and Zingales, Witedo and modified Kaplan and Zingales, as well as modified Altman bankruptcy prediction models and genetic algorithm, we examined this hypothesis. Confirming the research hypothesis, it was concluded that companies with liquidity trap go bankrupt, unless they reform or change their working capital policies.