The Effectiveness of Life Skills Training on Life Satisfaction in Patients with Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is one of the most debilitating diseases that affects all aspects of person’s life. Researches have indicated that life satisfaction in these patients is lower than that of others. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of life skills training on life satisfaction in patient with spinal cord injury. This study, having a quasi-experimental design, was performed with pre-test, post-test, and control group. The statistical population of this study consisted of patients with spinal cord injury (only men) that is covered by the home health care team of the Kahrizak Charity Foundation of Tehran. To do research, 30 patients of the center were selected by availability sampling and were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. In the experimental group, 10 sections of life skills training were performed, while no intervention was used for the control group. The research tool used in this study was a Self-Life Satisfaction Questionnaire and a univariate analysis of covariance was used to test results. Findings from the analysis of covariance showed that there was a significant difference between experimental and control groups (p< 0,05). This indicated that life skills training improved the life satisfaction in patients with spinal cord injury

Double-resonant decoupling method in very dense dipole arrays

| openaire: EC/H2020/736937/EU//M-CUBEIn this paper an approach for broadening of operational band in a dense array of dipole antennas by implementing passive split-loop resonators (SLRs) as decouplers is presented. Compared to the previous method, where three closely located active dipoles were decoupled by two passive dipole, the operational band is significantly improved from 0.5% to 1.6% at the same level of decoupling −8 dB for the cross-talk and inter-channel transmittance. To delineate, the presence of two SLRs results in birefringence of the resonant interaction of SLRs which creates two different eigenmodes for decoupling. As a result, a dual-resonant decoupled band is obtained. Alongside with analytical investigation, numerical and experimental investigations verify the veracity of our approach. Moreover, the possibility of decoupling by SLRs for arrays with more active dipoles is investigated numerically.Peer reviewe

Quality control of acuity-varian radiotherapy simulator system

One of the main and primarily phase to success of radiotherapy is accurately localization of the target volume and health peripheral tissues by radiotherapy simulator. The aim of this study is to investigate the some specific quality control tests necessary to provide adequate confidence of radiotherapy simulator performance Various essential parameters for quality control of Acuity- Varian radiotherapy simulator such as matching of mechanical measurements and electrical readouts, isocenter check, Congruence between optical field and radiation field, laser positioning system, kVp accuracy of X-ray beam, flat panel performance (resolution and low contrast sensitivity), etc were checked by quality control test tools. All investigated tests for matching of mechanical measurements and electrical readouts of field size, rotation and movement of table, gantry and flat panel detector were within the tolerance limits. The accuracy and reproducibility of KV passed the acceptable values. All the lasers were aligned with isocenter. However resolution of flat panel was within tolerance limit but low contrast sensitivity was not passed. The various quality control tests carried out on Acuity-Varian radiotherapy simulator were within recommended limits except the low contrast sensitivity that is in borderline of tolerance

Dual-Band Transceiver High Impedance Coil Array for Ultra-high Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging

A novel approach for designing an element of an arrayed radio frequency coil for ultrahigh field magnetic resonance imaging (UHF MRI) is presented. The purpose of this approach is to achieve the dual-band transceiver regime in a compact array of magnetic antennas. Our work qualitatively develops the concept of the so-called high-impedance coil (HIC), combined with the adequate interfacing circuitry, which offers the decoupling of the HICs in the array due to the very high self-impedance compared to the mutual impedance. This concept has not been previously thought applicable to dual-band transceiver arrays. We show that, by slightly modifying only the cable shield, we achieve a dual-band transceiver high-impedance coil (dual-band TRHIC). The needed modification implies two asymmetric gaps granting two useful eigenmodes to the cable loop. The resonant excitation of these modes will allow the magnetic resonant scanning of both hydrogen and Phosphorus in the 7 T dc magnetic field. To verify our ideas, we simulated and measured a single TRHIC in both transmitting and receiving regimes and similarly studied two linear arrays made of two and three proposed TRHICs. The method of asymmetric gaps, in our opinion, allows one to engineer the targeted multifrequency operation of arrayed TRHICs decoupled at these frequencies.Peer reviewe

Decoupling of Two Closely Located Dipole Antennas by a Split-Loop Resonator

| openaire: EC/H2020/736937/EU//M-CUBEIn this paper, we theoretically and experimentally prove the possibility of the passive electromagnetic decoupling for two parallel resonant dipoles by a split-loop resonator having the resonance band overlapping with that of the active dipoles. We show that the replacement of the decoupling dipole suggested in the literature as a tool for decoupling of two closely located dipole antennas by our split-loop resonator results in the twofold enlargement of the operation band.Peer reviewe

Passive electromagnetic decoupling in an active metasurface of dipoles

| openaire: EC/H2020/736937/EU//M-CUBEPassive electromagnetic decoupling in a very dense array of resonant active dipoles is a challenging task. Here we consider the decoupling of three very closely located resonant dipoles by two similar passive dipoles. In the non-resonant case it is not reducible to the decoupling of two active dipoles by a passive one. However, in the present case when the active dipoles have the resonant length their approximate decoupling is really achievable in the same way for both dimer and trimer of active dipoles. We prove this fact analytically, verify numerically and validate experimentally. Decoupling allows one to use different elements of the array in both transmitting and receiving regimes simultaneously that can be treated in terms of an active metasurface.Peer reviewe

Triple-Bands Ka-Band Frequency Selective Surface Filter with Different Polarized Transmitting Performance in Each Band

A triple-bands frequency selective surface (FSS) filter composed of combined enhanced Jerusalem and Gangbuster unit cells over square substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) cavities is presented. The enhanced Jerusalem cells produce two pass-bands with rotated polarization outputs while the enhanced Gangbuster one produces one pass-band with same polarized outputs in comparison with the input wave polarization. The pass-bands of the proposed FSS are at 33.5 GHz, 35.1GHz and 36.8 GHz. The simulation results verify the proposed idea ability and capability.Peer reviewe

Capacitated network-flow approach to the evacuation-location problem

Evacuating people to the safe zones is the most crucial operation in managing many disasters. A mathematical model is presented in this paper, combining locational decisions with the max-flow problem in order to select safe destinations which maximize the number of dispatched people. The existing frameworks for emergency logistics usually model the evacuation process based on fixed and pre-determined destinations with a strategic perspective. The unpredictable and turbulent nature of a disaster may; however, disrupt the predictions. Furthermore, the primary goal in emergency situations is to dispatch people from the danger zone to a safe place, no matter where. A mixed integer linear programming model is developed in this paper for selecting one or more destinations in a capacitated network. The special structure of the model and its similarity to the max-flow problem allow us to develop exact algorithms and heuristics both for the multiple and single destination location problem. The solution methods are based on existing algorithms for the max-flow problem. Our proposed heuristics use the idea of adding a super-sink to the network to generate upper bounds very fast. The exact algorithms as well as the heuristics are tested on randomly generated instances as well as a real world network. The most important statistics of their computation times are reported. They are also compared according to their performance (gap to optimality) and their behavior amongst different categories of the graphs. Finally we have presented a real-case addressing the problem of choosing a number of destination locations from a fixed set of pilot pre-determined locations. The problem of deciding on the destinations is considered under 5 grades of disaster severity and the related impacts on choosing the safe zones are analyzed