Looking for Chauka

Arash Kamali Sarvestani codirected and produced Chauka, Please Tell Us the Time (2017) while residing in the Netherlands and communicating with his codirector Behrouz Boochani through WhatsApp application. In this paper, Kamali Sarvestani explains his own journey as an artist living in diaspora and provides exclusive insight into the collaboration and consultation process with his exiled and incarcerated colleague. He details the influence of Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, the guidance he gave Boochani (who had never directed a film until then), how the project transformed from its initial phases through to its distribution and reception, and the ongoing obstacles both directors face

PRESENTING A NEW LAMINATION METHOD FOR THE ELASTIC ANALYSIS OF MULTILAYER CYLINDRICAL SHELLS

ABSTRACT In this article, by using the lamination theory, three hypothetical equations with unknown coefficients have been considered for the modeling of the displacement behavior of each layer of a shell in the cylindrical coordinate system, which completely satisfy the natural and geometrical boundary conditions. In this article, complete continuity has been assumed between the layers of a multilayer shell at their common boundaries, and this continuity is modeled by considering the same behavioral equations at the interface of two adjacent layers. By using the first law of thermodynamics to obtain the total potential energy of the layers, and by taking the derivative of this total energy equation with respect to the unknown coefficients of displacement equations and solving the resulting system, these coefficients are determined. It is obvious that, by knowing a shell's displacement equations, the other quantities needed for the analysis of the shell can be calculated as well

Quantification of the spatiotemporal microstructural organization of the human brain association, projection and commissural pathways across the lifespan using diffusion tensor tractography.

Using diffusion tensor tractography, we quantified the microstructural changes in the association, projection, and commissural compact white matter pathways of the human brain over the lifespan in a cohort of healthy right-handed children and adults aged 6-68 years. In both males and females, the diffusion tensor radial diffusivity of the bilateral arcuate fasciculus, inferior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, uncinate fasciculus, corticospinal, somatosensory tracts, and the corpus callosum followed a U-curve with advancing age; fractional anisotropy in the same pathways followed an inverted U-curve. Our study provides useful baseline data for the interpretation of data collected from patients

Alteration of ultrasonic signatures by stress-induced changes in hydro-mechanical properties of fractured rocks

In this study, we evaluate the changes in ultrasonic signatures (i.e., frequency content, velocity, amplitude, and attenuation) due to stress-induced alteration of fracture aperture/permeability. Flow-through experiments were performed on artificially-fractured phyllite specimens along with the concurrent measurements of ultrasonic signatures under different stress conditions. Increasing pore pressure led to fracture opening, as indicated by increases in both mechanical and hydraulic apertures. In addition, we observed that increase in confining pressure (and decrease in pore pressure) led to increases in ultrasonic velocities, ultrasonic amplitudes, and fracture specific stiffness, and decrease in ultrasonic attenuations. It was found that time-frequency partitioning depends on hydraulic aperture. The higher frequency band, for both P- and S-waves, was insensitive to the changes in stress conditions; the lower band was sensitive to the changes in stress conditions, as long as the hydraulic aperture was changing. Three-Element rheological and Power-Law models successfully predicted the time-dependent fracture displacement, with the former being more accurate at higher levels of pore pressures

Design of Tunable Nanophotonic Devices

This tutorial addresses design of tunable nanophotonic arrays, enabling dynamic, active control of the properties of light - amplitude, phase, wavevector, wavelength and polarization - opening new applications such as optical beam steering, focusing and wavefront engineering

Assessment of Glioblastoma Response in the Era of Bevacizumab: Longstanding and Emergent Challenges in the Imaging Evaluation of Pseudoresponse

Glioblastoma is the deadliest primary malignant brain neoplasm, and despite the availability of many treatment options, its prognosis remains somber. Enhancement detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was considered the best imaging marker of tumor activity in glioblastoma for decades. However, its role as a surrogate marker of tumor viability has changed with the appearance of new treatment regimens and imaging modalities. The antiangiogenic therapy created an inflection point in the imaging assessment of glioblastoma response in clinical trials and clinical practice. Although BEV led to the improvement of enhancement, it did not necessarily mean tumor response. The decrease in the enhancement intensity represents a change in the permeability properties of the blood brain barrier, and presumably, the switch of the tumor growth pattern to an infiltrative non-enhancing phenotype. New imaging techniques for the assessment of cellularity, blood flow hemodynamics, and biochemistry have emerged to overcome this hurdle; nevertheless, designing tools to assess tumor response more accurately, and in so doing, improve the assessment of response to standard of care (SOC) therapies and to novel therapies, remains challenging

Monitoring of fisheries resources in artificial reefs in east of Kish Island waters

Artificial reefs are manmade materials deployed under water in order to improve environment and increase the exploitation of fishing area. Usage of artificial technic has developed due to increase of world population and need to supply of protein, aim to restoring of natural specially rehabilitation of demersal fishes. It has effected to increase the production in order sustainable exploitation. Coasts and Islands have destruction due to over harvesting from ecosystems and other activities by humans and natural, these caused many aquatic as demersal fishes has endangered in Persian Gulf and Oman Sea. The artificial reef is one way or method that can improve the environment and restore the aquatic. Iranian fisheries has established an artificial reefs area in west of Kish Island. This area has studied during one year, Data of assembled fishes and physical sampling were collected in seasonal during spring, summer, autumn and wintered. There were tow treatment for sampling as artificial reefs site and a control site. Collected data has analyzed and evaluated by SPSS and Exel. The results showed that there was significant difference between the sites and assembled fishes in artificial reefs were more than control site. Consequently the artificial reefs can be a tool and technic to improve the marine environment and increase the production of fishes, especially the demersal fishes

Verbal Autopsy: Reliability and Validity Estimates for Causes of Death in the Golestan Cohort Study in Iran

BACKGROUND: Verbal autopsy (VA) is one method to obtain valid estimates of causes of death in the absence of valid medical records. We tested the reliability and validity of a VA questionnaire developed for a cohort study in Golestan Province in northeastern Iran. METHOD: A modified version of the WHO adult verbal autopsy was used to assess the cause of death in the first 219 Golestan Cohort Study (GCS) subjects who died. The GCS cause of death was determined by two internists who independently reviewed all available medical records. Two other internists ("reviewers") independently reviewed only the VA answers and classified the cause of death into one of nine general categories; they repeated this evaluation one month later. The reliability of the VA was measured by calculating intra-reviewer and inter-reviewer kappa statistics. The validity of the VA was measured using the GCS cause of death as the gold standard. RESULTS: VA showed both good validity (sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV all above 0.81) and reliability (kappa>0.75) in determining the general cause of death independent of sex and place of residence. The overall multi-rater agreement across four reviews was 0.84 (95%CI: 0.78-0.89). The results for identifying specific cancer deaths were also promising, especially for upper GI cancers (kappa = 0.95). The multi-rater agreement in cancer subgroup was 0.93 (95%CI: 0.85-0.99). CONCLUSIONS: VA seems to have good reliability and validity for determining the cause of death in a large-scale adult follow up study in a predominantly rural area of a middle-income country

Comparison of testicular cell population indexes in normal dogs using fine needle aspiration and imprint techniques

Testicular cell population indexes have been described in human and a few domestic species of animals to evaluate spermatogenesis. Fine needle aspiration (FNA) and imprints are different techniques available to obtain specimens for cytological evaluation of the testicle. FNA is the less invasive method compared to the imprint. This study was conducted to determine and compare testicular cell population indexes using FNA and imprint methods among dogs of different age groups. A total number of 35 mixed breed dogs, with no testicular abnormalities were categorized into four different age groups; junior (0.5 - <2 years; N=7), adult (2 - <4.5 years; N=10), mature (4.5 - <7 years; N=11) and senior (7 - <10 years; N=7). Three FNA samples and two imprints were obtained from different but consistent locations of each testicle. Cytological evaluation was performed after staining with Wright’s stain 500 cells from each slide. The results of this study demonstrated no significant differences between the three different FNA locations or the two imprint areas. There were also no significant differences in the testicular cell population indexes between the left and right testicles in either of the techniques. Therefore, regardless of the sampling site, the same reference range of testicular cell population indexes can be used for interpretation. The mean of the testicular cell population indexes for FNA versus imprint samples are as follow: sperm index (SI): 40.54 vs. 23.11, Sertoli cell index (SEI): 8.83 vs. 5.11,Sperm-Sertoli cell index (SSEI): 7.20 vs. 6.69, late spermatid index (LSI): 33.55 vs. 27,early spermatid index (ESI): 23.09 vs.42.77 and spermatocyte index (SPI): 2.61 vs.7.08.All testicular cell population indexes were significantly (P< 0.05) different between FNA and imprints, except for SSEI. FNA samples consisted of more Sertoli cells and mature spermatogenic cells such as spermatozoa (SI: 40.54 ± 13.36 vs. 23.11 ± 10.88) and late spermatids while imprints contained early spermatids the most. Therefore, for interpretation of the samples, it is highly recommended to choose the reference range of the cell population indexes according to the sampling technique. Another important factor to be considered is the age of the animal. This is because of the significant differences between testicular cell indexes in different age groups. Based on FNA results, in the junior group, SI and SSEI were significantly lower and SEI and ESI were significantly higher than the mature group. However, the differences of the testicular cell indexes were not so remarkable in imprint samples, except for a higher SEI in junior group compared to the other groups. The results of this study suggest that FNA is a more useful technique compared to imprint, as it is less invasive and more efficient in detection of spermatozoa and Sertoli cells. Beside that, the age of a dog should be taken into consideration, whenever FNA based testicular cell population indexes are to be interpreted

Coupled Thermal-Hydrological-Mechanical-Chemical Processes In Geothermal And Shale Energy Developments

Coupled Thermal-Hydrological-Mechanical-Chemical (THMC) processes that exist in the development of different geo-resources (e.g. deep geothermal and shale gas) affect the fracture response (i.e. aperture and permeability), which in turn influences the reservoir production. The main goal of this study was to experimentally evaluate the impact of THMC processes on the response of rock specimens relevant for deep geothermal and shale gas formations. The effects of THMC processes were investigated on: (i) success of the hydraulic fracturing/hydro-shearing mechanism during stimulation stage, and (ii) closure of the created network of fractures during production stage. The elastic, cyclic, creep, and failure characteristics of different intact reservoir rocks in both short- and long-term were investigated to evaluate their response in stimulation stage. In addition, a series of flow tests on fractured reservoir cores were conducted to evaluate how THMC processes affect fracture response subjected to different stress levels, temperatures, composition of injected fluid, and injection rate. Moreover, the sensitivity of ultrasonic signatures (i.e. velocity, amplitude, attenuation, and time-frequency content) to (i) microstructural changes in the intact rocks, and (ii) flow-induced alterations of aperture/permeability in the fractured rocks were investigated. Analysis of hydraulic data, chemical composition of the effluent, ultrasonic signatures, and X-Ray micro-CT and SEM images, provided invaluable information that facilitated interpretation of the effects of coupled THMC processes on fracture response