3 research outputs found
Solutions for fast development of precision agriculture in Iran
A descriptive survey method was carried out to assess to effective factors on precision agriculture (PA) adoption and to find out practical solutions for development of PA in Iran.  The research population included 450 people from agricultural specialists, experts, researchers.  A sample of 117 was constituted using proportional stratified sampling based on the Cochran formula.  Data were collected using questionnaire.  The questionnaire was validated by a panel of experts, and the reliability index was established by a Cronbach's coefficient.  Computed Cronbach’s alpha score obtained 81%.  All survey data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 16.0).  The most important solutions for development of PA in Iran were categorized in four fields, namely, economical, managerial, technical and human resource.Keywords: adoption, factor analysis, precision agriculture, solutio
Airborne and aerosol pathogen transmission modeling of respiratory events in buildings : An overview of computational fluid dynamics
Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Elsevier LtdPathogen droplets released from respiratory events are the primary means of dispersion and transmission of the recent pandemic of COVID-19. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been widely employed as a fast, reliable, and inexpensive technique to support decision-making and to envisage mitigatory protocols. Nonetheless, the airborne pathogen droplet CFD modeling encounters limitations due to the oversimplification of involved physics and the intensive computational demand. Moreover, uncertainties in the collected clinical data required to simulate airborne and aerosol transport such as droplets’ initial velocities, tempo-spatial profiles, release angle, and size distributions are broadly reported in the literature. There is a noticeable inconsistency around these collected data amongst many reported studies. This study aims to review the capabilities and limitations associated with CFD modeling. Setting the CFD models needs experimental data of respiratory flows such as velocity, particle size, and number distribution. Therefore, this paper briefly reviews the experimental techniques used to measure the characteristics of airborne pathogen droplet transmissions together with their limitations and reported uncertainties. The relevant clinical data related to pathogen transmission needed for postprocessing of CFD data and translating them to safety measures are also reviewed. Eventually, the uncertainty and inconsistency of the existing clinical data available for airborne pathogen CFD analysis are scurtinized to pave a pathway toward future studies ensuing these identified gaps and limitations.Peer reviewe
Umbilical Cord Blood Platelet Lysate as Serum Substitute in Expansion of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells
Objective: The diverse clinical applications for human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs)
in cellular therapy and regenerative medicine warrant increased focus on developing
adequate culture supplements devoid of animal-derived products. In the
present study, we have investigated the feasibility of umbilical cord blood-platelet
lysate (UCB-PL) as a standard substitute for fetal bovine serum (FBS) and human
peripheral blood-PL (PB-PL).
Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, platelet concentrates (PC) from UCB
and human PB donors were frozen, melted, and sterilized to obtain PL. Quality control
included platelet cell counts, sterility testing (viral and microbial), total protein concentrations,
growth factor levels, and PL stability. The effects of UCB-PL and PB-PL on hMSCs
proliferation and differentiation into osteocytes, chondrocytes, and adipocytes were studied
and the results compared with FBS.
Results: UCB-PL contained high levels of protein content, platelet-derived growth factor-
AB (PDGF-AB), and transforming growth factor (TGF) compared to PB-PL. All growth
factors were stable for at least nine months post-storage at -70ËšC. hMSCs proliferation
enhanced following treatment with UCB-PL. With all three supplements, hMSCs could
differentiate into all three lineages.
Conclusion: PB-PL and UCB-PL both were potent in hMSCs proliferation. However, PB
promoted osteoblastic differentiation and UCB-PL induced chondrogenic differentiation.
Because of availability, ease of use and feasible standardization of UCB-PL, we have suggested
that UCB-PL be used as an alternative to FBS and PB-PL for the cultivation and
expansion of hMSCs in cellular therapy