Effect of Milk thistle plant, Vitis vinifera extract on immune system of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) challenge by diazinon

The pollutants due to effect on the immune system of fish increase fish sensitivity to pathogens. Diazinon is one of the most used organophosphates pesticide in many agricultural areas. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of diazinon on the immune system of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and application of Milk thistle plant, Vitis vinifera extract to reduce the adverse effects of this pesticide on its immune system. The reduction in the level of plasma peroxides, IgM, total complement and lysozyme were observed in fish exposed to diazinon showing its effect on the fish's immune system. No significant difference between control group and fish fed by Milk thistle plant extract and exposed to diazinon can reflect protective impact of Milk thistle plant extract on the immune system of rainbow trout by eliminating the free radicals and boosting the immune system

Effects of in-line deflectors on the overall performance of a channel heat exchanger

The turbulent convective thermal transfer in channel heat exchangers (CHEs) is studied numerically via the CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) method. Deflectors are inserted on the hot bottom walls of the heat channel to enhance the hydrothermal characteristics. Various shapes of in-line deflectors are considered, namely: rectangular (a/b = 0.00), cascaded rectangular-triangular (a/b = 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75), and triangular (a/b = 1.00) shapes. From the obtained results, the inclusion of in-line deflectors with a/b = 0.75 has given the most significant thermal enhancement factor, which was higher than that for a/b = 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, and 1.00 by about 5.36, 5.06, 67.27, and 3.88%, respectively. Also, the in-line cascaded deflector’ case (a/b = 0.75) shows an increase in the enhancement factor (η) from 4 to 15.44% over the cases of one deflector (corrugated, rectangular, triangular, trapezoidal, arc, (+), S, 45° V, 45° W, T, Γ, and ε-shaped) or two deflectors (staggered corrugated). This highlights the effectiveness of in-line cascaded rectangular-triangular deflectors with a/b = 0.75 in improving the performance of the proposed exchanger for the conditions adopted.https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tcfm20hj2022Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineerin

Numerical calculations of the thermal-aerodynamic characteristics in a solar duct with multiple V-baffles

The study aimed to enhance the heat transport by improving the hydrodynamic structure of the system by changing and restructuring the duct’s internal geometry. Modern fins, of the shape ‘V’, have been proposed with different dimensions, and they are periodically arranged over the duct surfaces. The most important steps of this research are the change in the V-fin attack-angle (40°–80°), length (Hb/2, 3Hb/4, Hb, 5Hb/4 and 3Hb/2), and separation length (Ds/2, 3Ds/4, Ds and 5Ds/4), as well as the flow rate (6 × 103–3 × 104). The study yielded an optimum case for a 40-degree attack-angle, with a factor of thermal enhancement of 2.163 for the highest value of Reynolds number. On the other hand, improving the length of the V-fins or decreasing in the space between them, increases the flow strength by enlarging the recycling cells, which reflects on the hydrodynamic behavior, and changes the heat transfer. The presence of this new model offins also highlights a hydrothermal improvement ranging between 1.196 and 23.779 percent compared to the previously indicated models, reflecting the effectiveness of the new system of solar heat exchangers with air V-finned ducts.https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tcfm20pm2020Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineerin

The Effectiveness of Revenue-Neutral Carbon Taxes

This paper investigates the effectiveness of carbon taxes in the manufacturing sector by examining British Columbia’s revenue-neutral carbon tax. We theoretically demonstrate that the magnitude of plants’ exposure to the policy monotonically increases with its emission intensity. Using detailed confidential plant-level data, we directly exploit the variations in plants’ emission intensity to isolate the emission effect of the policy. We find that the carbon tax lowers emission by 2 percent. Furthermore, we find that the policy had a positive output effect, suggesting that the carbon tax encouraged plants to produce more with less energies. These findings are possibly due to the revenue neutrality of the policy, especially through the reduction of the corporate income taxes. It incentivized plants to invest in both energy-saving and productivity-enhancing technologies.JEL Classification Codes: H23, Q5, L6Yamazaki acknowledges generous financial support from the Policy Research Center at the National Graduate Institutefor Policy Studies (GRIPS).http://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/yamazaki-akio

A first update on mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19

peer reviewe

Three Essays in Global Warming and Carbon Taxes

My thesis is titled "Three Essays in Environmental Regulations and Carbon Emissions". It focuses on how firms and regions adjust their behavior in response to environmental regulation, and how different policy tools can motivate global cooperation in reducing carbon emissions to combat climate change. This thesis includes three chapters. The first chapter of my thesis is titled "Would a Carbon Border Tax lead to a trade war? A CGE Investigation". The motivation behind this paper is that Unilateral carbon policies have failed to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. A carbon border tax (CBT) is suggested as a potential remedy to induce countries to participate in mitigating carbon emissions. A potential problem with CBT is, however, it may lead to retaliatory actions in countries with no policies, initiating a trade war. This paper examines whether a CBT would encourage the cooperation of countries in reducing GHG emissions or whether the tax would lead to a trade war. I build a simple two-country computable general equilibrium model and calibrate it using OECD and non-OECD countries. I find that trade war is not likely to occur and CBT can be used as an enforcement mechanism to induce countries with no carbon policies to adopt such policies. The second chapter of my thesis is titled "How Effective Are Carbon Taxes in Reducing Emissions? Evidence from the Revenue Neutral Carbon Tax in British Columbia, Canada". This paper uses a unique detailed plant-level dataset in Canada during 2004-2012 to estimate the causal effect of the British Columbia carbon tax on greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing plants. I exploit variation in exposure to the carbon tax across time, industries, and provinces to isolate the causal effect of the carbon tax. I find that the carbon tax had a small negative effect on total emissions, and a zero to a small positive effect on output levels of high-emission-intensive plants relative to the low-emission-intensive plants. These surprising effects are possibly due to the revenue neutrality of the policy. The emission-intensity of plants, however, declined by 7 percent. The third chapter is titled "Technological Change and Climate Disasters". In this paper, I collaborate with Dr. John Boyce, a Professor of Economics at the University of Calgary. This paper develops a semi-endogenous growth model of biased technological change across clean and dirty energy sectors. The key assumptions, are (i) that returns to R&D efforts are decreasing in the number of scientists in each sector, (ii) that returns to R&D are decreasing in past knowledge stock, and (iii) that CO2 emissions depend upon the hydrocarbon inputs used by the dirty sector rather than dirty sector output. Results show that the occurrence of an environmental disaster in the laisses-fair equilibrium depends crucially upon the relative ease of successful R&D, the relative initial states of technology, the elasticity of substitution between the clean and dirty sectors, and the rate of change in dirty input prices. We find that under some model assumptions, the laissez-faire equilibrium results in a hump-shaped CO2 emissions path. Both a carbon tax and a research subsidy to the clean sector, however, cause a faster shift of R&D effort towards the clean sector. A carbon tax with an increasing rate over time would be one of the most effective policies available to governments

Effectiveness of progressive relaxation and emotional regulation on quality of life of heart patients

Background: One of the major problems in the world are Cardiovascular diseases and it is the reason of 30% of the deaths. Objective: The current study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of progressive relaxation and emotional regulation on quality of life of elderly heart patients. Methods: This semi-experimental research was conducted with pre-posttest design with an experimental and control group in 2016-17. The population consisted of all elderly heart patients living in Dashti city who have been admitted to the hospital. Forty-five elderly heart patients were selected and randomly assigned to two experimental and control groups (n=15). The control group did not receive any intervention. An interventional programs (progressive muscle relaxation and emotional regulation) were performed in eight sessions for 40 minutes for experimental groups. To collect data, the World Health Organization Quality-of-Life scale (WHOQOL-BREF) were used. Data were analyzed and represented as mean, standard deviation, and ANCOVA. Findings: The quality of life in two experimental groups (progressive muscle relaxation and emotional regulation) compared to the control group, at posttest were increased (P<0.05). The average scores of quality of life was significantly increased in the progressive muscle relaxation group rather than emotion regulation training group in post-test stages (P<0.01). Conclusion: The results showed that progressive muscle relaxation and emotional regulation can be effective to treat and work with the elderly heart patients

Short-term effects of date palm extract (Phoenix dactylifera) on ischemia/reperfusion injury induced by testicular torsion/detorsion in rats

This find is registered at Portable Antiquities of the Netherlands with number PAN-0002772