Interaction protocols for human-driven crisis resolution processes

This work aims at providing a crisis cell with process-oriented tools to manage crisis resolutions. Indeed, the crisis cell members have to define the crisis resolution process, adapt it to face crisis evolutions, and guide its execution. Crisis resolution processes are interaction-intensive processes: they not only coordinate the performance of tasks to be undertaken on the impacted world, but they also support regulatory interactions between possibly geographically distributed crisis cell members. In order to deal with such an interweaving, this paper proposes to use Interaction Protocols to both model formal interactions and ease a cooperative adaptation and guidance of crisis resolution processes. After highlighting the benefits of Interaction Protocols to support this human and collective dimension, the paper presents a protocol meta-model for their specification. It then shows how to suitably integrate specified protocols into crisis resolution processes and how to implement this conceptual framework into a service oriented architecture

Application of internet and information technology in recruitment of safe blood donors.

The present study focuses on the role of information technology in blood safety policies. In order to reach to higher levels of blood safety we have to put our maximum force in the recruitment of safe blood donors via public education. Innovative use of mass media in recruitment of blood donors especially the youth and those of higher education level and disseminating the basic information about blood donation can be our success key. There is an urgent need to find new ways of recruiting blood donors rather than traditional methods of donor education. Effectiveness of internet based educational intervention in other disciplines of health has already been proven; however, few researches exist concerning internet application for online recruitment of safe blood donors. Finally, internet users' population and blood donors are similar in many aspects of their socio-demographic determinants and it is reasonable to deduce that online education and dissemination of knowledge of safe blood donation can be considered an efficient modus of recruitment of voluntary non-remunerated blood donors

The effect of Aerobic Training and Cinnamon Zeylanicum Intake on Total Antioxidant Capacity in Active Women

Aims: Imbalance between the production of free radicals and the antioxidant defense system leads to oxidative stress. In addition, plants can reduce stress-induced oxidative damage. In this study we evaluated the effects of aerobic exercise with cinnamon intake on serum oxidative capacity in active women. Materials & Methods: 28 female students of physical education with age range 30-20 years, and the average BMI 22/71 kg/m² were voluntarily selected and randomly divided to 5 groups: 1) aerobic exercise 2) aerobic exercise combined with cinnamon 3) aerobic exercise with placebo 4 ) cinnamon and 5) control group. Intensity aerobic exercise was performed for 6 weeks within 65-80% of maximum heart rate and formula was 220-age. Blood samples were collected at the beginning and end of the study and the significance level was set at (p<0.05). Findings: TAC ( Total Antioxidant Capacity), uric acid and bilirubin in the aerobic exercise group with cinnamon consumption showed no significant difference (p<0.05). Conclusion: Probably sports activities with 65-80% of maximal oxygen consumption intensity more than 6 weeks with the consumption of cinnamon can improve the TAC level in active women

Shear Wave Splitting Analysis to Estimate Fracture Orientation and Frequency Dependent Anisotropy

Shear wave splitting is a well-known method for indication of orientation, radius, and length of fractures in subsurface layers. In this paper, a three component near offset VSP data acquired from a fractured sandstone reservoir in southern part of Iran was used to analyse shear wave splitting and frequency-dependent anisotropy assessment. Polarization angle obtained by performing rotation on radial and transverse components of VSP data was used to determine the direction of polarization of fast shear wave which corresponds to direction of fractures. It was shown that correct implementation of shear wave splitting analysis can be used for determination of fracture direction. During frequency- dependent anisotropy analysis, it was found that the time delays in shear- waves decrease as the frequency increases. It was clearly demonstrated throughout this study that anisotropy may have an inverse relationship with frequency. The analysis presented in this paper complements the studied conducted by other researchers in this field of research

Anticancer activity of a sub-fraction of dichloromethane extract of Strobilanthes crispus on human breast and prostate cancer cells in vitro

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The leaves of <it>Strobilanthes crispus </it>(<it>S. crispus</it>) which is native to the regions of Madagascar to the Malay Archipelago, are used in folk medicine for their antidiabetic, diuretic, anticancer and blood pressure lowering properties. Crude extracts of this plant have been found to be cytotoxic to human cancer cell lines and protective against chemically-induced hepatocarcinogenesis in rats. In this study, the cytotoxicity of various sub-fractions of dichloromethane extract isolated from the leaves of <it>S. crispus </it>was determined and the anticancer activity of one of the bioactive sub-fractions, SC/D-F9, was further analysed in breast and prostate cancer cell lines.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The dichloromethane extract of <it>S. crispus </it>was chromatographed on silica gel by flash column chromatography. The ability of the various sub-fractions obtained to induce cell death of MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, PC-3 and DU-145 cell lines was determined using the LDH assay. The dose-response effect and the EC₅₀values of the active sub-fraction, SC/D-F9, were determined. Apoptosis was detected using Annexin V antibody and propidium iodide staining and analysed by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry, while caspase 3/7 activity was detected using FLICA caspase inhibitor and analysed by fluorescence microscopy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Selected sub-fractions of the dichloromethane extract induced death of MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, PC-3 and DU-145 cells. The sub-fraction SC/D-F9, consistently killed breast and prostate cancer cell lines with low EC₅₀values but is non-cytotoxic to the normal breast epithelial cell line, MCF-10A. SC/D-F9 displayed relatively higher cytotoxicity compared to tamoxifen, paclitaxel, docetaxel and doxorubicin. Cell death induced by SC/D-F9 occurred via apoptosis with the involvement of caspase 3 and/or 7.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A dichloromethane sub-fraction of <it>S. crispus </it>displayed potent anticancer activities <it>in vitro </it>that can be further exploited for the development of a potential therapeutic anticancer agent.</p

Shear wave velocity prediction using seismic attributes and well log data

Formation’s properties can be estimated indirectly using joint analysis of compressional and shear wave velocities. Shear wave data isnot usually acquired during well logging, which is most likely for costsaving purposes. Even if shear data is available, the logging programs provide only sparsely sampled one-dimensional measurements: this informationis inadequate to estimate reservoir rock properties. Thus, if the shear wave data can be obtained using seismic methods, the results can be used across the field to estimate reservoir properties. The aim of this paper is to use seismic attributes for prediction of shear wave velocity in a field located in southern part of Iran. Independent component analysis(ICA) was used to select the most relevant attributes to shear velocity data. Considering the nonlinear relationship between seismic attributes and shear wave velocity, multi-layer feed forward neural network was used for prediction of shear wave velocity and promising results were presented

Microplastic in angling baits as a cryptic source of contamination in European freshwaters.

High environmental microplastic pollution, and its largely unquantified impacts on organisms, are driving studies to assess their potential entry pathways into freshwaters. Recreational angling, where many anglers release manufactured baits into freshwater ecosystems, is a widespread activity with important socio-economic implications in Europe. It also represents a potential microplastic pathway into freshwaters that has yet to be quantified. Correspondingly, we analysed three different categories of industrially-produced baits ('groundbait', 'boilies' and 'pellets') for their microplastic contamination (particles 700 µm to 5 mm). From 160 samples, 28 microplastics were identified in groundbait and boilies, with a mean concentration of 17.4 (± 48.1 SD) MP kg-1 and 6.78 (± 29.8 SD) mg kg-1, yet no microplastics within this size range were recorded in the pellets. Microplastic concentrations significantly differed between bait categories and companies, but microplastic characteristics did not vary. There was no correlation between microplastic contamination and the number of bait ingredients, but it was positively correlated with C:N ratio, indicating a higher contamination in baits with higher proportion of plant-based ingredients. We thus reveal that bait microplastics introduced accidentally during manufacturing and/or those originating from contaminated raw ingredients might be transferred into freshwaters. However, further studies are needed to quantify the relative importance of this cryptic source of contamination and how it influences microplastic levels in wild fish