Superconducting On-chip Fourier Transform Spectrometer

The kinetic inductance effect is strongly nonlinear with applied current in NbTiN, TiN and NbN thin films. This can be utilized to realize novel devices. We present results from transmission lines made with these materials, where DC (current) control is used to modulate the phase velocity thereby enabling on-chip spectrometers. Utility of such compact spectrometers is discussed, along with their natural connection with parametric amplifiers

Effects of exercise on physical fitness and blood factors of addicted persons who have quitted drugs for two months.

BANITALEBI, E.; FARAMARZI, M.; NURI, R.; KHOSROZADEH, J.; GHAFOORIAN, M. Effect of exercise training on health-related physical fitness factors and blood lipids profile of former addicted persons. Brazilian Journal of Biomotricity, v. 4, n. 3, p. 190-197, 2010. Dysfunctional eating patterns and excessive weight gains have been observed during recovery from drug and alcohol addictions. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of exercise training on health-related physical fitness factors and blood lipids profile of former addicted persons. Thirty seven males who were 23-49 years old, and had one-year quitting history were selected and randomized (exercise group, n= 18 and control, n= 19). Thirty eight individuals completed the entire study; 16 persons were in exercise group and 15 persons were in control group. Exercise training was consisted primarily of some game-based aerobic exercise. Exercise training duration progressed from 20 minutes at the baseline to 45 minutes at the end of weeks 12th, and intensity of exercise progressed from 50% of heart rate reserve of baseline to 70 % at 12 weeks. Weight, BMI and WHR were measured. Muscle endurance, flexibility and Vo2Peak were measured using by pull up, Sit -and -Rich test and one-mile Rockport walk test, respectively. Body composition was assessed using the sum of three skin-fold measurement specific for males (chest, abdomen, and tight). Total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglyceride (TG) were measured enzymatically using diagnostic Pars kits. All variables were measured at baseline. Data analyzed by using ANCOVA analysis. There were no significant differences in weight (p=0.208), BMI (P=0.2631), CT (P=0.428), HDL (0.833), LDL (0.396), VLDL (P=0.169), TG (P=0.283), Vo2peak (p=0.884), flexibility (P=0.923) and Pull-up (P=0.44) after 12 weeks exercise training between two groups, but there was significant difference in WHR (p=0.044). It appears that, exercise training can prevent weight gain after quitting drugs and substances

Effects of β -hydroxy- β -methylbutyrate on kidney parameters and body composition in untrained males after 8 weeks combination resistance training

زمینه و هدف: مطالعات علمی دقیق در مورد بی خطر بودن بتاهیدروکسی بتامتیلبوتیرات (HMB) در انسان تاکنون انجام نشده است و تنها مطالعات اندکی در مورد تاثیر این مکمل بر شاخص های مرتبط با سلامت در حیوانات انجام شده است. این مطالعه با هدف بررسی تاثیر 8 هفته تمرین مقاومتی به همراه مصرف مکمل بتا- هیدروکسی بتا- متیل بوتیرات (HMB) بر شاخص های کارکرد کلیوی و ترکیب بدنی مردان غیر ورزشکار انجام شد. روش بررسی: در این کارآزمایی بالینی 24 دانشجوی پسر غیر ورزشکار انتخاب و به صورت تصادفی به دو گروه کنترل (دارو نما، 14نفر) و تجربی (مکمل، 10 نفر) تقسیم شدند. هر دو گروه 8 هفته تمرین مقاومتی را به صورت 3 جلسه در هفته، اجرا کردند. از آزمودنی ها یک روز قبل و 2 روز بعد از برنامه تمرینی، نمونه خون و ادرار در حالت ناشتا گرفته شد و برای تمام نمونه ها اوره و کراتینین اندازه گیری و میزان فیلتراسیون گلومرولی نیز محاسبه گردید. ترکیب بدنی، وزن آزمودنی ها و قدرت بالا تنه و پایین تنه اندازه گیری شد. تجزیه و تحلیل داده ها با استفاده از آزمون های آماری t زوجی و t مستقل انجام گرفت. یافته ها: گروه مکمل افزایش معنادار در توده خالص بدنی (002/0P=) و کاهش معناداری در توده چربی بدن (006/0P=) داشت. همچنین، مکمل سبب کاهش معنادار غلظت ازت اوره ادرار (036/0P=) شد ولی تاثیر معناداری بر غلظت ازت اوره خون، کراتینین خون، کراتینین ادرار و میزان فیلتراسیون گلومرولی نداشت. نتیجه گیری: مصرف مکمل بتا- هیدروکسی بتا- متیل بوتیرات باعث افزایش توده خالص بدنی و قدرت یک تکرار بیشینه و کاهش چربی بدن در افراد غیر ورزشکار می شود. ولی تاثیر زیان آوری بر عملکرد کلیوی در مدت مصرف شده در این مطالعه ندارد

A privacy-preserving solution for the bipartite ranking problem

In this paper, we propose an efficient solution for the privacy-preserving of a bipartite ranking algorithm. The bipartite ranking problem can be considered as finding a function that ranks positive instances (in a dataset) higher than the negative ones. However, one common concern for all the existing schemes is the privacy of individuals in the dataset. That is, one (e.g., a researcher) needs to access the records of all individuals in the dataset in order to run the algorithm. This privacy concern puts limitations on the use of sensitive personal data for such analysis. The RIMARC (Ranking Instances by Maximizing Area under the ROC Curve) algorithm solves the bipartite ranking problem by learning a model to rank instances. As part of the model, it learns weights for each feature by analyzing the area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. RIMARC algorithm is shown to be more accurate and efficient than its counterparts. Thus, we use this algorithm as a building-block and provide a privacy-preserving version of the RIMARC algorithm using homomorphic encryption and secure multi-party computation. Our proposed algorithm lets a data owner outsource the storage and processing of its encrypted dataset to a semi-trusted cloud. Then, a researcher can get the results of his/her queries (to learn the ranking function) on the dataset by interacting with the cloud. During this process, neither the researcher nor the cloud learns any information about the raw dataset. We prove the security of the proposed algorithm and show its efficiency via experiments on real data

Superconducting On-chip Fourier Transform Spectrometer

The kinetic inductance effect is strongly nonlinear with applied current in NbTiN, TiN and NbN thin films. This can be utilized to realize novel devices. We present results from transmission lines made with these materials, where DC (current) control is used to modulate the phase velocity thereby enabling on-chip spectrometers. Utility of such compact spectrometers is discussed, along with their natural connection with parametric amplifiers

The effect of endurance training intensity on the expression of perlipin-A protein of visceral adipose tissue, serum glucose and insulin levels in STZ-induced diabetic rats

Background and aims: Changes in the expression of lipid droplet adipocyte proteins, such as prelipipin A (PLINA) cause alter lipolysis and insulin resistance. The aim of this study was to compare the three endurance training intensities (low, moderate and high) on the expression of PLINA protein in visceral adipose tissue, serum glucose and insulin levels in male diabetic Wistar rats. Methods: 40 male Wistar rats were assigned to five groups (n=8) including diabetic group with low intensity endurance training, moderate intensity group, high intensity group, diabetic and healthy control groups. After induction of diabetic rats by injection of streptozotocin, endurance training was performed with different intensities for eight weeks, three sessions per week. The relative expression of PLINA protein was measured by western blot technique. One-way variance analysis and Tukey's post hoc test were used to determine the difference between the groups. Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference between PLINA levels in healthy and diabetic control groups with endurance training groups (with low, moderate and high intensity) (P=0.018). These differences were between low intensity training and healthy control groups (P=0.033) and between diabetic and healthy control groups (P=0.020). Serum glucose and insulin levels were significantly different between the diabetic control and endurance training groups (low, moderate and high) (P=0.001). This difference was between high-intensity training group with low intensity training (P=0.046), diabetic control (P=0.001) and healthy control (P=0.011) groups. Conclusion: Moderate and high intensity endurance training can compensate for the loss caused by diabetes in the expression of the PLINA protein and reduces serum levels of insulin and glucose in these mice. It seems that more intensity endurance training leads to more increase in PLINA expression in diabetic rats

Volcano eruption algorithm for solving optimization problems

This is an accepted manuscript of an article published by Springer in Neural Computing and Applications on 30/06/2020, available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00521-020-05124-x The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.Meta-heuristic algorithms have been proposed to solve several optimization problems in different research areas due to their unique attractive features. Traditionally, heuristic approaches are designed separately for discrete and continuous problems. This paper leverages the meta-heuristic algorithm for solving NP-hard problems in both continuous and discrete optimization fields, such as nonlinear and multi-level programming problems through extensive simulations of volcano eruption process. In particular, a new optimization solution named Volcano Eruption Algorithm (VEA) proposed in this paper, which is inspired from the nature of volcano eruption. The feasibility and efficiency of the algorithm are evaluated using numerical results obtained through several test problems reported in the state-of-theart literature. Based on the solutions and number of required iterations, we observed that the proposed meta-heuristic algorithm performs remarkably well to solve NP-hard problem. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm is applied to solve some large-size benchmarking LP and Internet of Vehicles (IoV) problems efficiently

The effectiveness of problem solving therapy in deprived South African communities: results from a pilot study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The majority of South Africans with a DSM-IV diagnosis receive no treatment for their mental health problems. There is a move to simplify treatment for common mental disorders (CMDs) in order to ease access. Brief problem solving therapy (PST) might fill the treatment gap for CMD's in deprived communities in South Africa. This pilot study evaluates the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of this PST program for CMD's in deprived communities around Cape Town.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A Dutch problem solving program was adapted and translated into English, Xhosa and Afrikaans and thereafter implemented in townships around Cape Town. An initial attempt to recruit participants for online PST proved difficult, and so the program was adapted to a booklet format. Volunteers experiencing psychological distress were invited to participate in the either individually or group delivered 5-week during self-help program. To evaluate the effectiveness, psychological distress was administered through self-report questionnaires. After completion of the intervention participants also rated the program on various acceptability aspects.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 103 participants, 73 completed 5 weeks of brief PST in a booklet/workshop format. There were significantly more dropouts in those who used the booklet individually than in the group. Psychological distress measured on the K-10 and SRQ fell significantly and the program was evaluated positively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results suggest that brief problem solving in a booklet/workshop format may be an effective, feasible and acceptable short-term treatment for people with CMD's in deprived communities. In this setting, group delivery of PST had lower drop-out rates than individual delivery, and was more feasible and acceptable. Randomized controlled trials are needed to evaluate the effect of brief self-help PST more rigorously.</p