Approximation of Bessel beams with annular arrays

to appear in Proc. IEEE Ultrasonics Symp., San Antonio, Texas, November 199

Fuzzy Lattice Reasoning for Pattern Classification Using a New Positive Valuation Function

This paper describes an enhancement of fuzzy lattice reasoning (FLR) classifier for pattern classification based on a positive valuation function. Fuzzy lattice reasoning (FLR) was described lately as a lattice data domain extension of fuzzy ARTMAP neural classifier based on a lattice inclusion measure function. In this work, we improve the performance of FLR classifier by defining a new nonlinear positive valuation function. As a consequence, the modified algorithm achieves better classification results. The effectiveness of the modified FLR is demonstrated by examples on several well-known pattern recognition benchmarks

Medicinal plants: Past history and future perspective

Human societies have been in close contact with their environments since the beginning of their formation and used the ingredients of the environment to obtain food and medicine. Awareness and application of plants to prepare food and medicine have been realized through trial and error, and gradually human became able to meet his needs from his surroundings. Information about medicinal plants has long been transmitted gradually and from generation to generation, a human knowledge has gradually become complete with the formation of civilizations and the provision of more facilities. Medicinal plants are used as a medical resource in almost all cultures. Ensuring the safety, quality and effectiveness of medicinal plants and herbal drugs very recently became a key issue in industrialized and developing countries. By standardizing and evaluating the health of active plant-derived compounds, herbal drugs can help the emergence of a new era of the healthcare system to treat human diseases in the future. Awareness of traditional knowledge and medicinal plants can play a key role in the exploitation and discovery of natural plant resources. In order to maintain this knowledge, comprehensive approach and collaboration are needed to maintain historical records on medicinal plants and use these resources in favour of human beings, before they are destroyed forever. Therefore, this review was conducted to investigate and describe the process of using medicinal plants throughout history. This review focuses on the recent various important challenges in quality evaluation of medicinal plants in the authenticity, efficacy, toxicity and consistenc

PROVIDING A FUZZY SYSTEM FOR EVALUATING AND COMBINING SERVICES IN THE SERVICE-ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE

Abstract. Today, service oriented architecture is recognized as an effective way for organizations to select,evaluate, and combine services, including key activities that take place in different phases of the service life cycle of the service oriented architecture. Service evaluation is one of the key activities in implementing a successful service project. Our goal is to assess the appropriateness of the services identified and the choice of service means using specific techniques to select a service from a set of client profiles. In this research, we are looking at how to use fuzzy logic to evaluate a set of suggested services and combine them. In order to adapt the results of the research with actual values, actual data was used.In this paper we were able to work with the actual data by presenting a suitable combination method to achieve this goal and then, by testing this method with actual data, we were able to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, and it was ound that this algorithm has the highest accuracy in choosing the optimal combination of services.Keywords: Fuzzy logic, service evaluation, service mixing, service oriented architecture, service selection

Design and Implementation of a Drone-based Forest Fire Monitoring System Including an Exclusive Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulator

The purpose of this study is to design a fire detection drone system with a unique hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation architecture, mainly focusing on the search and localization algorithms and simulating thermal cameras to test computer vision-based detection algorithms. The autopilot hardware has been designed exclusively for this research work. The basic flight algorithm has been implemented in the autopilot firmware. To communicate and configure the autopilot, a ground control station (GCS) is developed. The GCS exchanges data with autopilot hardware using a serial port for both telemetry and HIL data links. A game engine (Unity3D) is used for implementing the simulator’s 3D graphics. To solve the rigid-body equations, the Unity3D built-in Nvidia PhysX system is utilized. The simulator exchanges data with the GCS using a UDP port. The GCS acts as a bridge between autopilot and simulator. To achieve real-time simulation performance, in most of the simulation systems and the GCS, multitasking is implemented. Furthermore, a simulated thermal camera with a raw image provider (similar to the actual hardware output) and a fire-making system in a forest-like environment has been developed to set fire to the simulated forest either at a specific location or randomly. The system consistency has been tested by performing some simulation tests and furthermore by testing the system in a real flying platform and testing the drone outdoor. Finally, the outcome of the system exhibited a good agreement with the autopilot as well as the guidance and navigation system in terms of the fire detection and positioning algorithms

Estimation and prediction of avoidable health care costs of cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes through adequate dairy food consumption: a systematic review and micro simulation modeling study

Background: Recent evidence from prospective cohort studies show a relationship between consumption of dairy foods and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This association highlights the importance of dairy foods consumption in prevention of these diseases and also reduction of associated healthcare costs. The aim of this study was to estimate avoidable healthcare costs of CVD and T2D through adequate dairy foods consumption in Iran. Methods: This was a multistage modelling study. We conducted a systematic literature review in PubMed and EMBASE to identify any association between incidence of CVD and T2DM and dairy foods intake, and also associated relative risks. We obtained age- and sex-specific dairy foods consumption level and healthcare expenditures from national surveys and studies. Patient level simulation Markov models were constructed to predict the disease incidence, patient population size and associated healthcare costs for current and optimal dairy foods consumption at different time horizons (1, 5, 10 and 20 years). All parameters including costs and transition probabilities were defined as statistical distributions in the models, and all analyses were conducted by accounting for first and second order uncertainty. Results: The systematic review results indicated that dairy foods consumption was inversely associated with incidence of T2DM, coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke. We estimated that the introduction of a diet containing 3 servings of dairy foods per day may produce a $0.43 saving in annual per capita healthcare costs in Iran in the first year due to saving in cost of CVD and T2DM treatment. The estimated savings in per capita healthcare costs were$8.42, $39.97 and$190.25 in 5, 10 and 20-years’ time, respectively. Corresponding total aggregated avoidable costs for the entire Iranian population within the study time horizons were $33.83,$661.31, $3,138.21 and$14,934.63 million, respectively. Conclusion: Our analysis demonstrated that increasing dairy foods consumption to recommended levels would be associated with reductions in healthcare costs. Further randomized trial studies are required to investigate the effect of dairy foods intake on cost of CVD and T2DM in the population

Ultrasound based technology for removal of scale from downhole production tubing, an experimental verification

Open Access via the Elsevier Agreement The authors are grateful to the Net Zero Technology Center (NZTC) and University of Aberdeen UK, for providing the laboratory facilities required to complete this research.Peer reviewe

The Relationship between Anthropometric Factors and Iron Deficiency Anemia Factors

Background: Iron deficiency is often observed in obese individuals. The prevalence of obesity has increased at an epidemic rate. A few small studies have noted a possible association between iron deficiency and obesity. The purpose of the study has been determined relationship between anthropometric including body mass index and the size of abdomen and iron-shortage anemia.Materials and Methods: Descriptive, analytical, and cross sectional methods of research have been applied in the study. The instruments used to collect the data were a set of organized items in the questionnaire and a checklist contained the measurement of abdominal obesity, height, weight, BMI, the results of ferritin levels, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and TIBC and MCV. The tools were validated via content validity and test-retest. The participants were the staff (n=300) of Hamadan branch, Islamic Azad university, Iran, who were selected via census sampling technique. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, that is, chi-square, Pearson correlation coefficient, and ANOVA were run using SPSS software.Results: 48.4% had overweight and 43.9% had various degrees of general obesity. 45.7% of women and 1.9% of men suffered from abdominal obesity. 3.2% of men had ferritin levels less than 20ng/dl and 79.2% of them had high levels of TIBC, while 31.5% of women had ferritin serum less than 12ng per dl and 73.9% of them had high TIBC. There was a significant relationship between abdominal obesity and TIBC, HB, HCT, and ferritin serum (p<0.0005).Conclusion: The results of this study indicate the high prevalence of overweight, obesity, and abdominal obesity and their relationship with iron deficiency anemia. These are non-communicable disease, which are directly related to the lifestyle

Impact of the COVID-19 Outbreak on Aseptic Meningitis in Children

ObjectivesViruses are the most common infectious causes of aseptic meningitis (AM). After the COVID-19 pandemic, AM following the COVID-19 disease and its different vaccines were reported. This study compares some characteristics of patients with AM before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.Materials & MethodsThis retrospective cross-sectional study analyzed patients’ demographic and laboratory data (one month to 14 years old) with AM from March 2018 to March 2022. The first period involves two years before the COVID-19 outbreak (March 2018 to March 2020). The second period starts with the COVID-19 pandemic (from March 2020 until March 2022).ResultsA significant decrease was observed in the frequency of patients admitted with AM after the COVID-19 pandemic in the referral children’s hospital in Qazvin. The incidence of AM in children older than five decreased significantly, and as a result, the average age of patients with this diagnosis decreased, too. A meaningful decline in the prevalence of AM in the summer and fall seasons has been observed.ConclusionAfter the COVID-19 outbreak, the incidence of AM in children significantly decreased. Implementing the hygienic recommendations for inhibiting COVID-19 virus transmission also protected children from the spread of other viruses