337 research outputs found
Information gain measure for structural discrimination of cellular automata configurations
Get PDFCellular automata (CA) are known for their capability in exhibiting interesting emergent behaviour and capacity to generate complex and often aesthetically appealing patterns through the local interaction of rules. Mean information gain has been suggested as a measure of discriminating structurally different two-dimensional (2D) patterns. This paper addresses quantitative evaluation of the complexity of CA generated configurations. In particular, we examine information gain as a spatial complexity measure for discriminating multi-state 2D CA generated configurations. This information-theoretic quantity, also known as conditional entropy, takes into account conditional and joint probabilities of cell states in a 2D plane. The effectiveness of the measure is shown in a series of experiments for multi-state 2D patterns generated by CA. The results of the experiments show that the measure is capable of distinguishing the structural characteristics including symmetries and randomness of 2D CA patterns
Temperature affects the silicate morphology in a diatom
No full textTemperature affects the silicate morphology in a diatom Javaheri, N.; Dries, R.M.; Burson, A.M.; Stal, L.J.; Sloot, P.M.A.; Kaandorp, J.A. Published in: Scientific Reports DOI: 10.1038/srep11652 Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Javaheri, N., Dries, R., Burson, A., Stal, L. J., Sloot, P. M. A., & Kaandorp, J. A. (2015). Temperature affects the silicate morphology in a diatom. Scientific Reports, 5, [11652]. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep11652 General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. , and 23 °C ). We observed three distinct temperature-dependent growth phases. The morphology of silica was investigated using scanning electron microscopy followed by image analysis and supervised learning. The silica in the valves of the same species showed different structures: a mesh-like pattern in silicon-rich cultures and a treelike pattern in silicon-limited cultures. Moreover, temperature affected this silica pattern, especially in silicon-limited cultures. We conclude that cells grown at 14 °C and 18 °C divide more successfully in Si-limited conditions by developing a tree-like pattern (lower silicification)
Prevalence and etiologies of macrosomia and low birth weight in 1000 neonates at Javaheri hospital in Tehran
No full textBackground and aimLow birth weight is one of the important problems in many societies especially developing ones. The survival rate of infants has a direct relationship with their birth weight. The aim of This cross-sectional study was to determine the prevalence and etiologies of Prevalence and etiologies of macrosomia and low birth weight in 1000 neonates of low birth weight (LBW) as well as macrosomia and their possible etiologies. Materials and methods1000 neonates were sequentially selected by nonrandom sampling method over 6 months in 2006 at Javaheri hospital in Tehran. By reviewing their medical records, the birth weight of the subjects and other variables of the study were assessed. Independent T and Qui-square tests were used for data analysis. FindingsIn this study cross sectional- study mean weigh of the neonates was 2957±910 gr. 7% of the subjects suffered from low birth weight (mean=2371±260) and 3% had macrosomia (mean=4247±240). A significant relationship was found between birth weight and gestational age of the neonates. 10% of mothers having neonates with macrosomia had gestational diabetes. The etiology of macrosomia was not known in most cases. The most common causes of low birth weight included premature rupture of membranes, twin gestation, fetal distress and maternal conditions. ConclusionAppropriate gestational care, risk factor detection before pregnancy and improvement of quantity as well as quality of maternal child health services can reduce the number of low- birth-weight infants. Keywords: Macrosomia, Low birth weight, Prevalence, Etiology. *Corresponding Author: Dr. Masoomeh, Hematyar. Islamic Azad University, College of Medicine, Tehran, Iran. E-mail: [email protected]
Spontaneous Imbibition and Imbibition Oil Recovery in Tight Rocks
Get PDFAdvances in the development of unconventional resources have led to a surge in North American oil production. For example, tight oil production has pushed the U.S. crude supply to over 9% of world total production. Therefore, petrophysical characterization of such low-permeability rocks, has become increasingly important for petroleum engineers. Properties such as porosity, permeability, pore throat size, and wettability are of high importance for evaluating production from tight oil formations. This study has two parts. In first part, we measure and analyze spontaneous imbibition of water and oil into five twin core plugs drilled from the cores of a well drilled in the Montney Formation, an unconventional oil and gas play in Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). We characterize the samples by measuring the mineralogy using XRD (x-ray diffraction), total organic carbon content, porosity, and permeability. In order to quantify wettability of the core plugs, we define two wettability indices for the oil phase based on the slope and equilibrium values of water and oil imbibition curves. We observe that the two indices decrease by increasing neutron porosity and gamma ray parameters measured by wireline logging tools. Our results demonstrate that porosity is a key parameter controlling the fluid uptake of tight rock core samples from the Montney formation. Furthermore, we propose a decoupling scheme for pore-network characterization of core plugs based on their porosity and permeability
تاثير و ماندگاري يک دوره تمريني عصبي-عضلاني بر تقارن تعادل ورزشکاران مبتلا به اسپرين مزمن مچ پا
No full textBackground and Objective:The ankle sprain is one of the most common sports injuries that cause chronic instabilities in the joint as well as many disorders in the individual's motor pattern and asymmetry in lower extremity function. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of neuromuscular training on balance symmetry in patients with chronic ankle sprain.
Materials and Methods: In this semi-experimental study, the population consisted of female young athlete selected from various athletic disciplines, age in the range of 19-26 years. Twenty subjects with chronic ankle instability were selected as a sample by using purposefully available sampling method. Neuromuscular exercises were performed for 6 weeks and 3 sessions per week. The subjects' balance was measured on both injured and non-injured foot before and after the training and after one month of detraining by the Biodex balance system. Data analysis was done by means of ANOVA with repeated measures and dependent t-test at a significant level of (p<0.05).
Results: The results indicated that there was a significant difference between the balance in the non-injured and injured foot in the pretest (p=0.05). Furthermore, no significant difference was observed in the post-test 1 and 2 (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The ankle sprain causes balance asymmetry in two limbs, and neuromuscular training improved the balance on both legs and compensated balance asymmetry. After one month of detraining, the symmetry of balance in both legs was sustained.
How to cite this article: Zahabi E, Mohamadjani M, Alirezaei- Noghondar F, Hashemi- Javaheri SA. A follow-up Study on the Effect of Neuromuscular Training on Asymmetry of Balance in Athletes with Chronic Ankle Instability.Irtiqa Imini Pishgiri Masdumiyat (Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention). 2017; 5(3):140-147.
سابقه و هدف:اسپرين مچ پا يکي از شايع ترين آسيب هاي ورزشي است که باعث بروز ناپايداري هاي مزمن در مفصل و اختلالات زيادي در الگوي حرکتي فرد و عدم تقارن در عملکرد اندام تحتاني مي شود. هدف از اين مطالعه بررسي اثر تمرينات عصبي-عضلاني بر تقارن تعادل در افراد مبتلا به اسپرين مزمن مچ پا مي باشد.
روش بررسي: در اين مطالعه نيمه تجربي جامعه آماري متشکل از دختران ورزشکار منتخب از رشته هاي ورزشي با دامنه سني 26-19 سال بود.20 آزمودني مبتلا به بي ثباتي مزمن مچ پا به شيوه نمونه گيري هدفمند و در دسترس انتخاب شدند. تمرينات عصبي-عضلاني به مدت 6 هفته و 3 جلسه در هفته اجرا شد و تعادل آزمودني ها روي هر دو پاي آسيب ديده و سالم، قبل، بعد از اجراي تمرينات و پس از يک ماه بي تمريني به وسيله دستگاه تعادل سنج بايودکس اندازه گيري شد. تجزيه تحليل داده ها با استفاده از آزمون هاي آماري آناليز واريانس با اندازه هاي تکراري و تي همبسته در سطح معناداري (05/0>p) انجام شد.
يافته ها: نتايج نشان داد که بين تعادل در پاي سالم و آسيب ديده در مرحله پيش آزمون تفاوت معناداري وجود داشت (05/0=p). علاوه بر اين در مرحله پس آزمون 1و2 تفاوت معناداري بين دو پا مشاهده نشد (05/0<p).
نتيجه گيري: اسپرين مچ پا باعث عدم تقارن تعادل در دو پا مي شود که تمرينات عصبي-عضلاني باعث بهبود تعادل يکساني روي هر دو پا شد و عدم تقارن تعادل را جبران کرد. بعد از گذشت يک ماه بي تمريني تقارن تعادل در هر دو پا حفظ شد.
How to cite this article:
Zahabi E, Mohamadjani M, Alirezaei- Noghondar F, Hashemi- Javaheri SA. A follow-up Study on the Effect of Neuromuscular Training on Asymmetry of Balance in Athletes with Chronic Ankle Instability. J Saf Promot Inj Prev. 2017; 5(3):140-7.
 
Generating CRISPR-dCas9 System in Clostridium difficile Bacteria
No full textThe increasing incidence of Clostridium difficile-associated disease, and its resistance to a number of antibiotics, highlight the need for additional countermeasures. The main issue that hampers the design of antibiotics is a lack of appropriate tools to study the molecular biology of C.difficile in great detail. Insight into the function of DNA replication genes and the protein they encode might eventually lead to the development of specific inhibitors that can be exploited as drugs. By means of CRISPR-dCas9 system, we designed and engineered a construct that is capable of targeting specific replication genes and silence those genes. Our design is composed of a nuclease-deactivated Cas9 (dCas9) protein and a customized single-guided RNA (sgRNA) with a 20-basepair complementary region to target replication genes in C.difficile. Co-expression of dCas9 and sgRNA can efficiently block transcription by interfering with DNA replication process. We developed a set of conjugative plasmids that carries appropriate Pveg-sgRNA targets to repress CD0001 (dnaA) and CD1214 (spo0A) genes in C.difficile. We also built a construct with dCas9 and its inducible promoter (Pcpr) that can be conjugated into C.difficile. Once both constructs are transformed into C.difficile 630 erm, we will be able to analyze and detect potential phenotypes expressed in the presence of dCas9.Biomedical ElectronicsBiomedical EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin
Aesthetic Evaluation of Cellular Automata Configurations Using Spatial Complexity and Kolmogorov Complexity
No full textDifferential Effects of Buprenorphine/Naloxone Vs. Methadone on Quality of Life Over Time: A Subset of The BRAVO Study (Buprenorphine to Improve HIV Care Engagement and Outcomes: A Randomized Trial)
Get PDFHealth-related Quality of Life (QoL) is generally poorer in individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) in comparison with those suffering from other chronic diseases. Little is known about the difference each buprenorphine/naloxone (BUP/NX) or methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) may make in the QoL for the HIV-infected people with OUD who are new to HIV care. The objective of this study is to evaluate the difference in the impact that BUP/NX and MMT treatment delivery models make on the QoL of the HIV-infected participants with OUD in Vietnam.
This study was a subset of the BRAVO study, buprenorphine to improve HIV care engagement and outcomes: a randomized trial. This study analyzed the QoL data from 254 participants (121 participants belonging to the BUP/NX group), excluding 30 due to lack of follow-up assessments, based on EUROQOL’s EQ-5D instrument standards.
Examination of the 5-level Likert scale of the five dimensions of mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression over 12 months suggests both treatment delivery models tend to improve QoL for the patients of such cohort, but not in all dimensions. Self-care and activity level were two of the dimensions which did not seem affected by either of the treatment delivery models. And the BUP/NX randomized group demonstrated more favorable improvements in the mobility and pain dimensions while anxiety levels were improved almost equally in both groups
Lack of MTTP activity in pluripotent stem cell-derived hepatocytes and cardiomyocytes abolishes apoB secretion and increases cell stress
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