Influence of various dietary fat sources on freezing capacity of Moghani ram semen

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of protected fish oil (FO) and Persia fat® (PF) on the quality of Moghani ram semen. For this purpose, a total of 96 ejaculates were collected from 12 healthy mature Moghani rams, which were divided into three distinct groups (n = 4) and were assigned to one of three experimental diets. The first group (control) received a diet supplemented with palm oil (PO), while the second and third groups received encapsulated FO and PF, respectively. After primary evaluation, semen samples of each group were pooled to eliminate individual differences, and then evaluated for semen concentration and volume. Afterwards, the samples were diluted with a Tris-based extender and frozen with a standard protocol. After thawing, motion kinetics, viability, membrane functionality and abnormality were assessed. The results showed that the group that received FO had significanty higher viability (quadratic), progressive motility (PM) (%), average path velocity (VAP) (μm/s), curvilinear velocity (VCL) (μm/s) (linear), amplitude of lateral head displacement (ALH) (μm) (quadratic) and sperm concentration (linear) than the others. Additionally, total motility (TM) (%) and straight-line velocity (VSL) (μm/s) were significantly higher in the groups that received FO and PF compared with the control (quadratic) The results indicated that sperm abnormalities in the control group were significantly higher than the other groups. In conclusion, enrichment of the diet with FO or Persia fat could enhance ram sperm quality after freeze-thawing process.Keywords: fish oil, frozen spermatozoa, ram, motion parameter

Large-Scale Demonstration of Liquid Hydrogen Storage with Zero Boiloff for In-Space Applications

Cryocooler and passive insulation technology advances have substantially improved prospects for zero-boiloff cryogenic storage. Therefore, a cooperative effort by NASA s Ames Research Center, Glenn Research Center, and Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) was implemented to develop zero-boiloff concepts for in-space cryogenic storage. Described herein is one program element - a large-scale, zero-boiloff demonstration using the MSFC multipurpose hydrogen test bed (MHTB). A commercial cryocooler was interfaced with an existing MHTB spray bar mixer and insulation system in a manner that enabled a balance between incoming and extracted thermal energy

Coarse-grained entanglement classification through orthogonal arrays

Classification of entanglement in multipartite quantum systems is an open problem solved so far only for bipartite systems and for systems composed of three and four qubits. We propose here a coarse-grained classification of entanglement in systems consisting of $N$ subsystems with an arbitrary number of internal levels each, based on properties of orthogonal arrays with $N$ columns. In particular, we investigate in detail a subset of highly entangled pure states which contains all states defining maximum distance separable codes. To illustrate the methods presented, we analyze systems of four and five qubits, as well as heterogeneous tripartite systems consisting of two qubits and one qutrit or one qubit and two qutrits.Comment: 38 pages, 1 figur

On the Equivalence of Kirkman-Steiner Triple Systems and Sets of Mutually Orthogonal Latin Squares

5 pages, 1 article*On the Equivalence of Kirkman-Steiner Triple Systems and Sets of Mutually Orthogonal Latin Squares* (Hedayat, A.; Raktoe, B. L.) 5 page

A Note on a Family of Resolvable Balanced Incomplete Block Designs

6 pages, 1 article*A Note on a Family of Resolvable Balanced Incomplete Block Designs* (Hedayat, A.; Raktoe, B. L.) 6 page

Orthogonal methods based ant colony search for solving continuous optimization problems

Research into ant colony algorithms for solving continuous optimization problems forms one of the most significant and promising areas in swarm computation. Although traditional ant algorithms are designed for combinatorial optimization, they have shown great potential in solving a wide range of optimization problems, including continuous optimization. Aimed at solving continuous problems effectively, this paper develops a novel ant algorithm termed "continuous orthogonal ant colony" (COAC), whose pheromone deposit mechanisms would enable ants to search for solutions collaboratively and effectively. By using the orthogonal design method, ants in the feasible domain can explore their chosen regions rapidly and e±ciently. By implementing an "adaptive regional radius" method, the proposed algorithm can reduce the probability of being trapped in local optima and therefore enhance the global search capability and accuracy. An elitist strategy is also employed to reserve the most valuable points. The performance of the COAC is compared with two other ant algorithms for continuous optimization of API and CACO by testing seventeen functions in the continuous domain. The results demonstrate that the proposed COAC algorithm outperforms the others

Magneto-optical study of metamagnetic transitions in the antiferromagnetic phase of α-RuCl3

alpha-RuCl3 is a promising candidate material to realize the so far elusive quantum spin liquid ground state. However, at low temperatures, the coexistence of different exchange interactions couple the effective pseudospins into an antiferromagnetically zigzag (ZZ) ordered state. The low-field evolution of spin structure is still a matter of debate and the magnetic anisotropy within the honeycomb planes is an open and challenging question. Here, we investigate the evolution of the ZZ order parameter by second-order magneto-optical effects, the magnetic linear dichroism and magnetic linear birefringence. Our results clarify the presence and nature of metamagnetic transitions in the ZZ phase of alpha-RuCl3. The experimental observations show the presence of initial magnetic domain repopulation followed by a spin-flop transition for small in-plane applied magnetic fields (approximate to 1.6 T) along specific crystallographic directions. In addition, using a magneto-optical approach, we detected the recently reported emergence of a field-induced intermediate phase before suppressing the ZZ order. The results disclose the details of various angle-dependent in-plane metamagnetic transitions quantifying the bond-anisotropic interactions present in alpha-RuCl3

Space-time code diversity by phase rotation in multi-carrier multi-user systems

Code diversity using space-time block codes was developed for single-carrier and single-receiver systems. In this paper, the extension of code diversity by phase rotation to multi-user and multi-carrier systems is proposed and analyzed. We show that code diversity with reduced feedback is possible in this new scenario and the coding gain has a mild logarithmic decrease with the number of users and the number of sub-carriers. In addition, we develop an analytical upper bound for the average error probability whose accuracy is verified by simulation

Primary immunodeficiency disorders in Iran: Update and new insights from the third report of the national registry

Background: Primary immunodeficiency disorders (PID) are a group of heterogeneous disorders mainly characterized by severe and recurrent infections and increased susceptibility to malignancies, lymphoproliferative and autoimmune conditions. National registries of PID disorders provide epidemiological data and increase the awareness of medical personnel as well as health care providers. Methods: This study presents the demographic data and clinical manifestations of Iranian PID patients who were diagnosed from March 2006 till the March of 2013 and were registered in Iranian PID Registry (IPIDR) after its second report of 2006. Results: A total number of 731 new PID patients (455 male and 276 female) from 14 medical centers were enrolled in the current study. Predominantly antibody deficiencies were the most common subcategory of PID (32.3 %) and were followed by combined immunodeficiencies (22.3 %), congenital defects of phagocyte number, function, or both (17.4 %), well-defined syndromes with immunodeficiency (17.2 %), autoinflammatory disorders (5.2 %), diseases of immune dysregulation (2.6 %), defects in innate immunity (1.6 %), and complement deficiencies (1.4 %). Severe combined immunodeficiency was the most common disorder (21.1 %). Other prevalent disorders were common variable immunodeficiency (14.9 %), hyper IgE syndrome (7.7 %), and selective IgA deficiency (7.5 %). Conclusions: Registration of Iranian PID patients increased the awareness of medical community of Iran and developed diagnostic and therapeutic techniques across more parts of the country. Further efforts must be taken by increasing the coverage of IPIDR via electronically registration and gradual referral system in order to provide better estimation of PID in Iran and reduce the number of undiagnosed cases. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media

MIR21 drives resistance to Heat Shock Protein 90 inhibition in cholangiocarcinoma

Cholangiocarcinomas (CCA) are resistant to chemotherapy, so new therapeutic agents are needed. We performed a screen to identify small molecule compounds that are active against CCAs. Levels of microRNA 21 (MIR21 or miRNA21) are increased in CCAs. We investigated whether miRNA21 mediates resistance of CCA cells and organoids to HSP90 inhibitors