Isfahan University of Technology (IUT): Towards a Green Campus Energy, Climate and Sustainable Development Initiatives at IUT

Today, many universities are trying to move towards sustainability by observing the principles of environment and green management. In this regard, the issue of green university has been considered by many countries in recent years, and many efforts have been made to join (UIGWURN (UI GreenMetric World University Rankings Network)). Isfahan University of Technology (IUT), as one of the top higher education universities in Iran, has taken fundamental steps to implement "Green Management" and has achieved honors in this regard. Some of the measures taken are extensive educational and research activities in the field of environment as well as executive measures for the university campus, including Xeriscaping, energy efficiency, clean energy use, water consumption management, waste and wastewater management, green buildings, and transportation. The implementation of these measures has led to significant results in reducing water and energy consumption, reduction of all types of pollutions following the use of clean energy, as well as saving consumption costs

Regularity conditions for vector-valued function algebras

We consider several notions of regularity, including strong regularity, bounded relative units, and Ditkin's condition, in the setting of vector-valued function algebras. Given a commutative Banach algebra $A$ and a compact space $X$, let $\mathcal{A}$ be a Banach $A$-valued function algebra on $X$ and let $\mathfrak{A}$ be the subalgebra of $\mathcal{A}$ consisting of scalar-valued functions. This paper is about the connection between regularity conditions of the algebra $\mathcal{A}$ and the associated algebras $\mathfrak{A}$ and $A$. That $\mathcal{A}$ inherits a certain regularity condition $P$ to $\mathfrak{A}$ and $A$ is the easy part of the problem. We investigate the converse and show that, under certain conditions, $\mathcal{A}$ receives $P$ form $\mathfrak{A}$ and $A$. The results apply to tensor products of commutative Banach algebras as they are included in the class of vector-valued function algebras

A Duhamel Integral Based Approach to Identify an Unknown Radiation Term in a Heat Equation with Non-linear Boundary Condition

In this paper, we consider the determination of an unknown radiation term in the nonlinear boundary condition of a linear heat equation from an overspecified condition. First we study the existence and uniqueness of the solution via an auxiliary problem. Then a numerical method consisting of zeroth-, first-, and second-order Tikhonov regularization method to the matrix form of Duhamel\u27s principle for solving the inverse heat conduction problem (IHCP) using temperature data containing significant noise is presented. The stability and accuracy of the scheme presented is evaluated by comparison with the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) method. Some numerical experiments confirm the utility of this algorithm as the results are in good agreement with the exact data

Individual differences in embodied distance estimation in virtual reality

There are important individual differences when experiencing VR setups. We ran a study with 20 participants who got a scale-matched avatar and were asked to blind-walk to a VR target placed 2.5 meters away. In such setups, people typically underestimate distances by approximately 10% when virtual environments are viewed through head mounted displays. Consistent with previous studies we found that the underestimation was significantly reduced the more embodied the participants were. However, not all participants developed the same level of embodiment when exposed to the exact same conditions

Intelligent identification of vehicle’s dynamics based on local model network

This paper proposes an intelligent approach for dynamic identification of the vehicles. The proposed approach is based on the data-driven identification and uses a high-performance local model network (LMN) for estimation of the vehicle’s longitudinal velocity, lateral acceleration and yaw rate. The proposed LMN requires no pre-defined standard vehicle model and uses measurement data to identify vehicle’s dynamics. The LMN is trained by hierarchical binary tree (HBT) learning algorithm, which results in a network with maximum generalizability and best linear or nonlinear structure. The proposed approach is applied to a measurement dataset, obtained from a Volvo V70 vehicle to estimate its longitudinal velocity, lateral acceleration and yaw rate. The results of identification revealed that the LMN can identify accurately the vehicle’s dynamics. Furthermore, comparison of LMN results and a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) neural network demonstrated the far-better performance of the proposed approach

Improvement in Activity of Daily Living and Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis Patients: the Impact of Nutrition Education

Background: Fatigue is one of the most common complications of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). However, a few studies are available on the effect of nutrition education on fatigue and Activities of Daily Living (ADL) in patients with MS. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the effect of nutrition education on fatigue and ability to perform ADL in patients with MS. Methods: This quasi-experimental one group, pretest and posttest study was performed on 40 patients with MS, who were conveniently recruited among patients, registered at the Iranian MS Society. Data were collected through a demographic questionnaire, the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), a standard ADL scale, and a 24-hour food recall for two days. The instruments were completed at the start and two months after the intervention. Descriptive statistics and paired t test were used to analyze the data. Results: Sixty percent of the patients had severe fatigue before the intervention while, 90% of them reported mild fatigue after the intervention. The mean posttest ADL was increased by 12.45 units after the intervention when compared with the pretest value (P<0.001). Moreover, the daily intake of vitamin D and E, calcium and omega3 were lower than 75% of the Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) in most of the patients. Conclusions: The present study showed the beneficial effects of nutritional training on fatigue and ADL in patients with MS. Therefore, nurses and dietitians should regularly assess the patients’ dietary pattern and train them and their families about appropriate diet

Comparative study on gonad development in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) reared in fresh and brackish water in the Yazd Province

Rainbow trout (Oncorhylichus mikiss) weidting 200±5 grams were used in this study to compare their gonad development in fresh and brackish water in Yazd Province. The culture period lasted 140 days from October to March 2003 during which time the temperature 03.8+0.6), pH (8.18±0.12) and dissolved oxygen (6.2+0.11) of fresh and brackish water were kept nearly constant. The salinity of fresh and brackish water was 0.4 -0.5 and 14.3-14.7ppt respectively. The fish were fed common commercial trout food (Chineh GFT2) based on temperature and biomass. Histological studies indicated that the gonad development is accelerated in brackish water where the males mature two month eal her than those reared in freshwater. The gonadosomatic index (G51) also affirmed the gonad development (P<0.05)

Bivariate Autoregressive State-Space Modeling of Psychophysiological Time Series Data

Heart rate (HR) and electrodermal activity (EDA) are often used as physiological measures of psychological arousal in various neuropsychology experiments. In this exploratory study, we analyze HR and EDA data collected from four participants, each with a history of suicidal tendencies, during a cognitive task known as the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT). A central aim of this investigation is to guide future research by assessing heterogeneity in the population of individuals with suicidal tendencies. Using a state-space modeling approach to time series analysis, we evaluate the effect of an exogenous input, i.e., the stimulus presentation rate which was increased systematically during the experimental task. Participants differed in several parameters characterizing the way in which psychological arousal was experienced during the task. Increasing the stimulus presentation rate was associated with an increase in EDA in participants 2 and 4. The effect on HR was positive for participant 2 and negative for participants 3 and 4. We discuss future directions in light of the heterogeneity in the population indicated by these findings

Multiple sclerosis epidemiology in Middle East and North Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the most common neurological disorders and a leading cause of nontraumatic disability in young adults in many countries. Recent reports from the Middle East and North Africa have suggested a moderate to high risk of MS in these countries. Methods: A literature search was performed in August 2014 in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and IMEMR to retrieve original population-based studies on MS epidemiology in the Middle East and North African countries published between 1st January 1985 and 1st August 2014. We designed search strategies using the key words: MS, prevalence, incidence, and epidemiology. According to the inclusion criteria, 52 studies were included in this systematic review. Results: McDonald's criteria were the most widely used diagnostic criteria in the studies. Most studies were conducted in single hospitalbased centers with a defined catchment area. The female/male ratio ranged from 0.8 in Oman to 4.3 in Saudi Arabia. MS prevalence ranged from 14.77/100,000 population in Kuwait (2000) to 101.4/100,000 in Turkey (2006). The overall MS prevalence in the region was 51.52/100,000. The mean age at disease onset ranged from 25.2 years in Kuwait to 32.5 years in Northeastern Iran, with an overall estimate of 28.54 years. Conclusions: Recent advances in MS registries will allow nation-wide studies and temporal comparisons between countries, provided that age- and sex-standardized estimates are available. © 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel