Chemical analyses of two plant essential oils and their effects on functional response of Habrobracon hebetor Say to Sitotroga cerealella Olivier larvae

Salvia officinalis L. and Glycyrrhiza glabra L. are two valuable medicinal plants from Kermanshah province in Iran. In this study, chemical analyses of their essential oils were performed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and the effects investigated on functional response of Habrobracon hebetor Say on larval stage of Sitotroga cerealella Olivier. Accordingly, emerged females of H. hebetor were treated by LC30 of the isolated essential oils for 24 h. Then, six wasps were accidentally selected and introduced to densities of host larvae for 24 h. The results showed that naphthalene, decahydro-4a-methyl and alpha-thujone were dominant compounds in both essential oils, respectively. Holling model (1959) by using regression analyses confirmed functional response type III in the control wasps and type II in both essential oils treatments. The highest and lowest attack rates were observed in the control wasps (0.0443 ± 0.00278 h-1) and S. officinalis treatment (0.0349 ± 0.00257 h-1), respectively. Moreover, the treated wasps by G. glabra essential oil showed shorter handling time than S. officinalis treatment (0.4497 ± 0.0373 h versus 0.5196 ± 0.0589 h). Accordingly, G. glabra due to lower negative effects on the functional response of H. hebetor was more compatible than S. officinalis for their combination in integrated pest management schedules

Accuracy of Ultrasonography in Confirmation of Adequate Reduction of Distal Radius Fractures

Introduction: Restoration of normal anatomic alignment is a key component of the treatment of distal radius fractures (DRF). This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of ultrasonography (US) in determining the adequacy of closed reduction in these fractures. Methods: DRF patients admitted to the emergency department of Al-Zahra Hospital, Isfahan, Iran from September 2011 to 2012, were enrolled. After closed reduction, the adequacy was investigated through both US and control plain radiography. Then, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predicative values of US in confirmation of closed reduction was evaluated. Also inter-rater agreement between the two diagnostic tools was analyzed by calculating Cohen’s kappa coefficient. Results: Finally, 154 patients were evaluated (females: 53.9%) with mean age of 40.03±14.7 (range: 22-73). US had sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value of 99.3% (95%CI: 96.2-99.9), 100.0% (95%CI: 62.9-100.0), 100.0% (95%CI: 97.5-100.0), and 88.9% (95%CI: 51.7-98.1) in confirmation of the adequate reduction, respectively. In addition, inter-rater reliability was 0.94 (95%CI: 0.89-0.99; p<0.0001). Conclusion: It seems that US could be considered as a highly sensitive, accurate, easy to use, noninvasive and safe tool for guidance and confirming of closed reduction in DRF.

TRANSFER LEARNING METHOD FOR SLEEP STAGES CLASSIFICATION USING DIFFERENT DOMAIN

Sleep stages classification using the signal analysis includes electroencephalogram (EEG), Electrooculography (EOG), Electromyography (EMG), Photoplethysmogram (PPG), and electrocardiogram (ECG). In this study, the proposed method using transfer learning to sleep stages classification. First, we have used the PPG and ECG signals, because they are less complex. This signal has the least complexity, and in this article we used this signal for transitional learning. n this study, we extracted 52 features from two signals and prepared for the classification stage. This method includes two steps, (a) Train data PPG and Test data ECG, (b) Train data ECG and Test data PPG. Results proved that our method has acceptable reliability for classification. The accuracy of 95.25% and 94.63% has been reached

Numerical and analytical investigation of an ultrasonic assisted ECAP process

One of the great challenges in the processing of materials using Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) is the high forming forces required to produce large shear deformation in the material. Researchers show that the friction forces between the die and the sample constitute a great part of the total forming forces. Recently, ultrasonic vibrations are successfully implemented into the ECAP process with the aim of reducing the friction forces. However, there is still need to optimize the parameters of ultrasonic vibrations in the ECAP process using numerical methods. FE simulation of the ultrasonic assisted ECAP process is very time-consuming and during simulation, the constant ram speed has interaction with the vibration speed. A virtual increase in the ram speed for simulation of ultrasonic assisted ECAP process will affect the results. By using Coulomb and Dahl friction models, it is analytically shown how vibration speed and constant ram speed interact with each other during FE simulation. The results clearly suggest against using virtually higher speeds in numerical modelling of the vibrated ECAP process. The conclusion is reached through comparing several simulations, as well as an analytical formulation, with experimental data from literature. The required friction coefficient values to be used in FE simulation at high contact forces are measured experimentally. An alternative strategy is then offered to speed up FE simulation of the vibrated ECAP process without the need for a virtual increase in the ram speed. The proposed strategy can increase the simulation speed of the ultrasonic assisted ECAP process up to ten times <br /

Temperature measurement and control system for transtibial prostheses: single subject clinical evaluation.

The snug fit of a prosthetic socket over the residual limb can disturb thermal balance and put skin integrity in jeopardy by providing an unpleasant and infectious environment. The prototype of a temperature measurement and control (TM&C) system was previously introduced to resolve thermal problems related to prostheses. This study evaluates its clinical application in a setting with reversal, single subject design. The TM&C system was installed on a fabricated prosthetic socket of a man with unilateral transtibial amputation. Skin temperature of the residual limb without prosthesis at baseline and with prosthesis during rest and walking was evaluated. The thermal sense and thermal comfort of the participant were also evaluated. The results showed different skin temperature around the residual limb with a temperature decrease tendency from proximal to distal. The TM&C system decreased skin temperature rise after prosthesis wearing. The same situation occurred during walking, but the thermal power of the TM&C system was insufficient to overcome heat build-up in some regions of the residual limb. The participant reported no significant change of thermal sense and thermal comfort. Further investigations are warranted to examine thermography pattern of the residual limb, thermal sense, and thermal comfort in people with amputation.N/

Antimicrobial properties of Hyssopus officinalis extract against antibiotic-resistant bacteria in planktonic and biofilm form

Introduction: Extensive use of antibiotics led to the development of bacterial resistant to antibiotics. Medicinal plants can be alternative choice for antibiotics. The plant (Hyssopus officinalis) belongs to Lamiaceae family recently were attracted as a source for antimicrobial agents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibacterial and inhibitory activity of H. officinalis extract on the growth of six antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Materials and methods: In this study, ethanolic and methanolic extracts of H. officinalis were prepared. Antibacterial activity of the ethanolic and methanolic extracts was evaluated by paper disc diffusion method. Also, MIC and MBC of these extracts were determined for six pathogenic bacteria. The effect of these extracts on biofilm of bacteria (biofilm formation and destruction) was evaluated by microtiter plate method. The chemical composition of the extract was identified by GC-MS. Results: The results of study showed the maximum inhibitory effect of these extracts against planktonic forms belong to Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Between all studied bacteria, Acinetobacter baumannii showed the greatest sensitivity to H. officinalis extracts in Muller Hinton broth (MIC= 3.125 mg ml-1). The highest inhibitory effects of H. officinalis ethanolic extract on biofilm formation were observed against Escherichia coli (95 %). The results of biofilm destruction showed that Klebsiella pneumoniae biofilm had a resistant biofilm structure between all tested bacteria (16.41 %). The GC-MS analysis revealed that five active compounds were present in the extract of this plant. Discussion and conclusion: The data obtained in this study confirmed that H.officinalis extract inhibit growth and biofilm formation of some pathogenic bacteria. It can be proposed for future studies that the compounds of this plant used for design a antimicrobial agent

Investigating some Factors Affecting the Milling of Long-Grain, High-Yielding Rice Varieties Dried in a Fluidized Bed Dryer

In this study the effect of air temperature, paddy final moisture and variety on degree of whiteness and breakage percentage in fluidized bed dryer were investigated. Three rice varieties (Tarom-domsiah, Hashemi, and Shiroodi); air temperature in four levels (40, 45, 50 and 55°C) and final moisture in three levels (8-10, 10-12, and 12-14%) were considered. Tests were conducted within the factorial design. The results indicated that the degree of whiteness of Shiroodi variety is more than other varieties in different temperatures. Only the degree of whiteness of Tarom-domsiah is increased with increasing the moisture. The average degree of whiteness in moisture 8-10 percent was less than other moistures. Hashemi variety in each temperature indicated the least rice breakage percentage. Breakage percentage of Tarom-domsiah and Shiroodi varieties had no significant difference in any moisture levels. While Breakage percentage of Hashemi variety in 12-14% moisture had a significant difference in its breakage percentage in the moisture of 8-10% and 10-12% and it showed more breakage percentage value

Design and Implementation of Efficient Smart Lighting Control System with Learning Capability for Dynamic Indoor Applications

Accurate and efficient adjustment of luminaire’s dimming level in a smart environment can be a huge challenge. Indoor lighting system as a nonlinear and time variant block, which consumes significant amount of electrical power is evaluated in this paper. In doing so, a control method is proposed to efficiently adjust luminaire’s dimming level in a smart environment and to optimize energy and user’s comfort level. The proposed control method takes advantages from neural network and its learning capabilities. In this research, photodetectors are placed at the work zones, where work zones can have different number of photodetectors without any increase in complexity and any adverse effect on the control system. The method is capable of adopting itself to daylight variations with high accuracy. A state machine is developed to implement the method. The method is implemented in MATLAB and lighting conditions are extracted in DIALux. Luminaire’s dimming levels are determined with accuracy higher than 99%. Daylight is considered as a bias to the system and thus the network does not need to be trained by any variations. In a dynamic condition, when taking into account the variation in daylight, the system mean error does not exceed 3%

Illumination Control of Smart Indoor Lighting Systems Consists of Multiple Zones

Accurate and power efficient determination of luminaires dimming level is a challenging issue in smart indoor lighting systems, since the lighting system is nonlinear and time variant. In this paper, a smart and power efficient control method is developed in order to determine luminaires dimming level in an indoor environment with multiple work zones. A positive point of the proposed control method is that photodetectors are placed at the work zones which increase the accuracy. Besides, different number of photodetectors can be placed at work zones in the proposed control method, since work zones may have different dimensions and also accuracy levels may differ. The control method takes the advantages of learning method to avoid complexity and also increase system reliability. The system can properly work with daylight variation during the daytime. Case studies are implemented in DIALux and the control method is evaluated in MATLAB. It is shown that the error for static condition is below 1% and for dynamic condition which daylight varies during daytime is increases to 5.6%