Logic programming and artificial neural networks in breast cancer detection

About 90% of breast cancers do not cause or are capable of producing death if detected at an early stage and treated properly. Indeed, it is still not known a specific cause for the illness. It may be not only a beginning, but also a set of associations that will determine the onset of the disease. Undeniably, there are some factors that seem to be associated with the boosted risk of the malady. Pondering the present study, different breast cancer risk assessment models where considered. It is our intention to develop a hybrid decision support system under a formal framework based on Logic Programming for knowledge representation and reasoning, complemented with an approach to computing centered on Artificial Neural Networks, to evaluate the risk of developing breast cancer and the respective Degree-of-Confidence that one has on such a happening.This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the Project Scope UID/CEC/00319/2013

Hydrogeochemical evolution of groundwater in a Quaternary sediment and Cretaceous sandstone unconfined aquifer in Northwestern China

A better understanding of the hydrogeochemical evolution of groundwater in vulnerable aquifers is important for the protection of water resources. To assess groundwater chemistry, groundwater sampling was performed from different representative aquifers in 2012–2013. A Piper trilinear diagram showed that the groundwater types can be classified into Na–SO4 and Na–Cl types. Only one groundwater sample was Na–HCO3 type. The dominant cations for all samples were Na+. However, the dominant anions varied from HCO3− to SO42−, and as well Cl−. The mean total dissolved solid (TDS) content of groundwater in the region was 1889 mg/L. Thus, only 20% of groundwater samples meet Chinese drinking water standards (< 1000 mg/L). Principal component analysis (PCA) combined with hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and self-organizing maps (SOM) were applied for the classification of the groundwater geochemistry. The three first principal components explained 58, 20, and 16% of the variance, respectively. The first component reflects sulfate minerals (gypsum, anhydrite) and halite dissolution, and/or evaporation in the shallow aquifer. The second and third components are interpreted as carbonate rock dissolution. The reason for two factors is that the different aquifers give rise to different degree of hydrogeochemical evolution (different travel distances and travel times). Identified clusters for evolution characteristic and influencing factors were confirmed by the PCA–HCA methods. Using information from eight ion components and SOM, formation mechanisms and influencing factors for the present groundwater quality were determined

Journal of Solid and Fluid Mechanics An Approximate Model for Slug Flow Heat Transfer in Channels of Arbitrary Cross Section

Abstract In this paper, a novel approximate solution to determine the Nusselt number for thermally developed, slug (lowPrandtl), laminar, single phase flow in channels of arbitrary cross section is presented. Using the Saint-Venant principle in torsion of beams, it is shown that the thermally developed Nusselt number for low-Prandtl flow is only a function of the geometrical parameters of the channel cross section, i.e., area, perimeter and non-dimensional polar moment of inertia. The new proposed model is compared with the existing numerical results for elliptic, rectangular, regular polygonal, flat plate, isosceles triangular, equilateral triangular and circular sector channels. The model predicts the Nusselt number for the above mentioned channels within the about 10% or better with the exception of the circular sector in very small aspect ratios. The new model is expected to be accurate for other singly connected channels and can be used to determine the fully developed turbulent Nusselt number for liquid metal flows. Finally, the proposed model is used to determine the slug flow Nusselt number for unavailable geometries in the literature such as rhombic, circular segment, annular sector channel as well as rectangular channel with semicircular ends

A New Study of the Species Composition of Scorpions in Golestan Province, Northeast of Iran

The scorpion sting and the resulting mortality are considered among the most critical health problems in Iran. This research was aimed to study on the scorpion's species in Golestan Province, Northeast Iran. Scorpions were captured during day and night using rock rolling and ultra violet methods from May to September, 2019. Then, the specimens were put into a 75 alcohol-containing plastic bottle. Finally, the specimens were identified using a valid identification key. Distribution maps were prepared using ArcGIS (Ver 10.4.). A total of 111 scorpion samples were captured. All the samples belonged to the Buthidae family, including Mesobuthus eupeus (97.3), Orthochirus farzanpayi (0.9), and Mesobuthus caucasicus (1.8). M. eupeus had the highest distribution and abundance in the region and was recognized as the leading cause of scorpion sting in the region. O. farzanpayi and M. caucasicus are new to the scorpion's species of this province. M. eupeus is the most prevalent species in Golestan Province and is one of the dangerous the scorpion in the region. © 2021. All Rights Reserved

Eulerian-Eulerian two-phase numerical simulation on nanofluid laminar forced convection in a microchannel

In this paper, laminar forced convection heat transfer of a copper–water nanofluid inside an isothermally heated microchannel is studied numerically. An Eulerian two-fluid model is considered to simulate the nanofluid flow inside the microchannel and the governing mass, momentum and energy equations for both phases are solved using the finite volume method. For the first time, the detailed study of the relative velocity and temperature of the phases are presented and it has been observed that the relative velocity and temperature between the phases is very small and negligible and the nanoparticle concentration distribution is uniform. However, the two-phase modeling results show higher heat transfer enhancement in comparison to the homogeneous single-phase model. Also, the heat transfer enhancement increases with increase in Reynolds number and nanoparticle volume concentration as well as with decrease in the nanoparticle diameter, while the pressure drop increases only slightly

Nanoparticle size effect on the convective heat transfer of a nanofluid flow inside a microchannel

This paper aims to study the nanoparticle size effect on the heat transfer enhancement for a copper-water nanofluid flow inside an isothermally heated microchannel using the two-phase approach. To do this, the governing equations for base liquid and nanoparticle phase are solved numerically. The two-phase results show higher heat transfer enhancements in comparison to the homogeneous modeling results. Also, it has been observed that the relative velocity and temperature between the phases is negligible and the nanoparticles distribute in the base liquid evenly. For lower volume concentrations, base liquid contributes more than the nanoparticle in the heat transfer but, for higher volume concentrations, the nanoparticle contribution is dominant. Heat transfer enhancement increases with a decrease in the nanoparticle size. The effect of the nanoparticle size on the heat transfer enhancement is more pronounced for higher volume concentrations

Relationship Between the Distribution and Biodiversity of Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) With the Incidence of Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Endemic Foci of Golestan Province, Iran

Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) is prevalent in Golestan Province, Iran. The current study determined the relationship between the distribution and biodiversity of sand flies with cutaneous leishmaniasis at 14 villages in plain and hillsides areas. In each village from July to September 2017, 60 sticky traps and 2 CDC light traps were laid. Spearman and Mann-Whitney tests were used to determine the relationship between the incidence of ZCL and the abundance of different species of sand flies. Simpson, Shannon-Wiener, Evenness, and Margalef indices were calculated to estimate the diversity of species. A total of 5,295 phlebotomine sand flies were collected, comprising 10 species of the genus Phlebotomus (3,947 flies) and 7 species of genus Sergentomyia (1,248 flies). The abundance of sand flies and incidence of ZCL in plain areas were greater than that of hillsides areas (P = 0.013, P = 0.002). There was a significant correlation between the incidence of ZCL and the abundance of Phlebotomus papatasi (r = 0.72, P = 0.004) and P. caucasicus groups (P = 0.006; 0.022). In the Shannon-Wiener index, the rest of the biodiversity indices were reduced in higher-altitude areas. Increasing Shannon-Wiener index showed higher diversity of sand flies in higher-altitude areas. Data of the reported cases of leishmaniasis in plain areas can reveal the relationship between less diversity index (Shannon-Wiener), higher dominant diversity index (Simpson), and incidence of leishmaniasis in these areas. © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: [email protected]