Magnetic Levitation Based Applications in Bioscience

Contactless manipulation of small objects, such as micro−/nanoparticles, biological entities, and even cells is required in varied applications in biosciences. Magnetic levitation (MagLev) is a new-generation methodology to achieve contactless magnetic manipulation of objects. Lately, magnetic levitation methodology has been utilized in several applications in bioscience, such as biosensors, diagnostics and tissue engineering. Magnetic levitation enables separation or positioning of objects in three-dimensional (3D) space based on their density features. Therefore, density-based separation assays utilizing magnetic levitation for biosensing or diagnostic purposes are developed recently. Specific particles or cells, which are markers of any disease, could be detected by sorting them based on density differences through magnetic levitation. On the other hand, tissue engineering studies and production of self-assembled 3D cell culture structures are carried out by magnetic levitation, where cells are magnetically positioned while allowing cell-cell interaction resulting in 3D cell culture formation. Lately, magnetic levitation methodologies received more interest in the field of bioscience due to advantages about the efficiency and cost. This contribution broadly summarizes recent efforts in magnetic levitation techniques that are mainly applied in diagnostics and tissue engineering

Impacts of battery characteristics, driver preferences and road network features on travel costs of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) for long-distance trips

Cataloged from PDF version of article.In a road network with refueling and fast charging stations, the minimum-cost driving path of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) depends on factors such as location and availability of refueling/fast charging stations, capacity and cost of PHEV batteries, and driver tolerance towards extra mileage or additional stopping. In this paper, our focus is long-distance trips of PHEVs. We analyze the impacts of battery characteristics, often-overlooked driver preferences and road network features on PHEV travel costs for long-distance trips and compare the results with hybrid electric and conventional vehicles. We investigate the significance of these factors and derive critical managerial insights for shaping the future investment decisions about PHEVs and their infrastructure. In particular, our findings suggest that with a certain level of deployment of fast charging stations, well established cost and emission benefits of PHEVs for the short range trips can be extended to long distance. Drivers׳ stopping intolerance may hamper these benefits; however, increasing battery capacity may help overcome the adverse effects of this intolerance

Minimum cost path problem for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Cataloged from PDF version of article.We introduce a practically important and theoretically challenging problem: finding the minimum cost path for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) in a network with refueling and battery switching stations, considering electricity and gasoline as sources of energy with different cost structures and limitations. We show that this problem is NP-complete even though its electric vehicle and conventional vehicle special cases are polynomially solvable. We propose three solution techniques: (1) a mixed integer quadratically constrained program that incorporates non-fuel costs such as vehicle depreciation, battery degradation and stopping, (2) a dynamic programming based heuristic and (3) a shortest path heuristic. We conduct extensive computational experiments using both real world road network data and artificially generated road networks of various sizes and provide signifi- cant insights about the effects of driver preferences and the availability of battery switching stations on the PHEV economics. In particular, our findings show that increasing the number of battery switching stations may not be enough to overcome the range anxiety of the drivers

Understanding women’s well-being in Turkey

The results of empirical studies focusing on gender differences in subjective wellbeingbased on either national or comparative international data are inconclusive.In Turkey, where levels of gender inequality are high, women tend to report higherlevels of life satisfaction than men. This study investigates the relationship betweenfactors related to women’s empowerment and life satisfaction for both ever-marriedand never-married women using the 2018 Turkey Demographic and Health Survey(TDHS), which collected data on life satisfaction for the first time in a TDHS series.The results show that in addition to their material resources and living environment,factors related to women’s agency – i.e., education and participation in decisionmaking– are associated with women’s levels of life satisfaction

Left Atrial Myxoma With Pleural Effusion

Cardiac myxomas are histologically benign tumors but they may be lethal because of their strategic position. They have variable presentations and excellent prognosis after surgical excision. Left atrial myxomas may mimic mitral stenosis and is very rarely associated with pleural effusion. We presented a case of left atrial myxoma blocking mitral orifice and causing recurrent pulmonary edema and pleural effusions in this report

Minimum cost path problem for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles

We introduce a practically important and theoretically challenging problem: finding the minimum cost path for PHEVs in a road network with refueling and charging stations. We show that this problem is NP-complete and present a mixed integer quadratically constrained formulation, a discrete approximation dynamic programming heuristic, and a shortest path heuristic as solution methodologies. Practical applications of the problem in transportation and logistics, considering specifically the long-distance trips, are discussed in detail. Through extensive computational experiments, significant insights are provided. In addition to the charging infrastructure availability, a driver's stopping tolerance arises as another critical factor affecting the transportation costs. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd

A branch and price approach for routing and refueling station location model

The deviation flow refueling location problem is to locate p refueling stations in order to maximize the flow volume that can be refueled respecting the range limitations of the alternative fuel vehicles and the shortest path deviation tolerances of the drivers. We first provide an enhanced compact model based on a combination of existing models in the literature for this relatively new operations research problem. We then extend this problem and introduce the refueling station location problem which adds the routing aspect of the individual drivers. Our proposed branch and price algorithm relaxes the simple path assumption generally adopted in the existing studies and implicitly takes into account deviation tolerances without the pregeneration of the routes. Therefore, the decrease in solution times with respect to existing models is significant and our algorithm scales very efficiently to more realistic network dimensions. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. and Association of European Operational Research Societies (EURO) within the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS). All rights reserved

Well parameters of two-dimensional electron gas in Al0.88In 0.12N/AlN/GaN/AlN heterostructures grown by MOCVD

Resistivity and Hall effect measurements were carried out as a function of magnetic field (0-1.5 T) and temperature (30-300 K) for Al0.88In 0.12N/AlN/GaN/AlN heterostructures grown by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD). Magnetic field dependent Hall data were analyzed by using the quantitative mobility spectrum analysis (QMSA). A two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) channel located at the Al0.88In 0.12N/GaN interface with an AlN interlayer and a two-dimensional hole gas (2DHG) channel located at the GaN/AlN interface were determined for Al 0.88In0.12N/AlN/GaN/AlN heterostructures. The interface parameters, such as quantum well width, the deformation potential constant and correlation length as well as the dominant scattering mechanisms for the Al 0.88In0.12N/GaN interface with an AlN interlayer were determined from scattering analyses based on the exact 2DEG carrier density and mobility obtained with QMSA. © 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA

5-Fluorouracil, epirubicin and cisplatin in the treatment of metastatic gastric carcinoma: A retrospective analysis of 68 patients

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer is one of the most common types of cancer and one of the most frequent causes of cancer-related death. The majority of gastric cancers show distant metastasis at the time of diagnosis. At present, there is no general agreement over one standard chemotherapy regimen for metastatic gastric cancer. AIMS: We evaluated the activity and toxicity of the combination of 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU), epirubicin and cisplatin (FEP) in previously untreated patients with metastatic gastric cancer. SETTING AND DESIGN: Medical Oncology Department of Uludag University Faculty of Medicine, Bursa; retrospective study. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sixty-eight patients received 5-FU 300 mg/m2 on Days 1-5, epirubicin 50 mg/m2 on Day 1 and cisplatin 60 mg/m2 on Day 1, every 4 weeks. A median of 3.5 cycles was administered. The response rate, time to disease progression, survival and toxic effects were analyzed. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Overall survival and time to progression were estimated using Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: There were 4 partial responses and 1 complete response (overall response rate 7.3%); 16 patients had stable disease. Median progression-free and overall survival rates were 3.1 months (95% CI 1.9-4) and 6 months (95% CI 4.2-7), respectively. The principal toxicity was myelosupression. Grade 3-4 neutropenia occurred in 27.9%, anemia in 17.6%, and thrombocytopenia in 11.7% of patients. Non-hematological toxicity was mild and manageable. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that FEP combination as used at the doses and schedules in this study has inferior activity against metastatic gastric cancer

The effects of metyrosine on ischemia-reperfusion-induced oxidative ovarian injury in rats: Biochemical and histopathological assessment

Abstract The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of metyrosine on ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) induced ovarian injury in rats in terms of biochemistry and histopathology. Rats were divided into: ovarian I/R (OIR), ovarian I/R+50 mg/kg metyrosine (OIRM) and sham (SG) operations. OIRM group received 50 mg/kg metyrosine one hour before the application of the anesthetic agent, OIR and SG group rats received equal amount of distilled water to be used as a solvent orally through cannula. Following the application of the anesthetic agent, ovaries of OIRM and OIR group rats were subjected to ischemia and reperfusion, each of which took two hours. This biochemical experiment findings revealed high levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) and low levels of total glutathione (tGSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and cyclo-oxygenase-1 (COX-1) in the ovarian tissue of OIR group, with significant histopathological injury. In metyrosine group, MDA and COX-2 levels were lower than the OIR group whereas tGSH, SOD and COX-1 levels were higher, with slighter histopathological injury. Our experimental findings indicate that metyrosine inhibits oxidative and pro-inflammatory damage associated with ovarian I/R in rats. These findings suggest that metyrosine could be useful in the treatment of ovarian injury associated with I/R